Society

With other faith leaders, I have joined in writing to members of parliament, urging them to oppose Rob Marris’s assisted dying bill. We have written, not in an attempt to push “the religious” viewpoint on others but because we are concerned that a change in the current law on assisted suicide would have detrimental effects both on individuals and on our society. While some individual religious voices, including that of my distinguished predecessor, Lord Carey, have called for a change in the law, the faith leaders’ letter represents the considered opinion of our communities that have analysed, discussed and debated the issue over many years. Their response springs from philosophical and theological reflections as well as from a vast range of pastoral experience and a profound sense of compassion. I have three concerns: First, a change in the law to permit assisted suicide would cross a fundamental legal and ethical Rubicon. This respect for the lives of others … [Read more...] about Why I believe assisting people to die would dehumanise our society for ever

Britain will cross a “legal and ethical Rubicon” if parliament votes to permit terminally ill patients to end their lives, said the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, as leaders of all the UK’s major faith groups call on MPs to reject plans to allow assisted suicide. In an extraordinary show of unity on Sunday, the heads of Britain’s Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh communities wrote a joint letter to every MP – published in the Observer – urging them to throw out the assisted dying bill, which will be debated in the Commons on Friday. The private member’s bill would allow patients judged as having no more than six months to live, and who had a “clear and settled intention” to end their lives, to be prescribed a lethal dose of drugs. Two doctors and a family court judge would have to assess the patient’s diagnosis and prognosis, and check that he or she was mentally competent to make a judgment, free of coercion. The … [Read more...] about Welby urges MPs: reject right-to-die bill that ‘crosses the Rubicon’

The House of Lords was split on Friday night over whether to back assisted dying, as supporters argued it would end the excruciating suffering of the terminally ill and opponents warned it was "a whisker away" from euthanasia. The assisted dying bill, proposed by the former lord chancellor Charles Falconer, would allow doctors to prescribe a lethal dose to patients judged to have less than six months to live. By the end of an emotionally fraught 10-hour debate, about 65 peers had spoken in favour of the legislation and 62 against. There was no consensus among the professions, with doctors, senior lawyers, police chiefs, politicians and the clergy speaking on each side. The bill's supporters included former police commissioner Ian Blair; former BBC chief John Birt; former director-general of Age Concern, Sally Greengross; former archbishop of Canterbury George Carey; and Elaine Murphy, a professor of old age psychiatry. Many of them raised the rights of individuals to choose their own … [Read more...] about House of Lords debate evenly split over assisted dying legislation

As MPs and peers we write further to the views expressed by Tanni-Grey Thompson, who argues that the assisted dying bill is unsafe (We must reject this intentional killing bill, 9 September). As the debate on assisted suicide intensifies, there is a real risk that the voice of the most vulnerable in our society is being drowned out. Evidence from around the world shows that many who chose assisted suicide cited feeling a burden on those around them as a reason for proceeding. In Oregon and Washington, which allow doctor-assisted suicide, many of those who ended their lives felt a burden on family, friends, or caregivers. Washington state’s 2014 Death with Dignity Act report recorded that 59% of those who died under the legislation self-identified as feeling a burden. In Oregon it was 40%. People who feel a burden are among the most vulnerable in society and often need encouragement to live. At a time when assistance to those with disabilities is being cut due to austerity … [Read more...] about Assisted dying bill raises hopes and fears for end-of-life care

5.50pm BST Rowena Mason's story after the Lords vote is here Updated at 11.43pm BST 5.46pm BST Now it's the turn of John Stevens, former commissioner of the Met police, who now has the formal and rather grand title of Baron Stevens of Kirkwhelpington. He has worries about the bill, but says there needs to be "certainty in the law". He says: To do nothing, my lords, is not an option. 5.42pm BST Just a minute ago we heard from Lord Low, a crossbencher who has been blind since the age of three. The "overwhelming majority" of people with disabilities support the bill, he says, unlike the portrayal of their "self-appointed spokespeople". 5.40pm BST There are, inevitably, fewer peers present now we're almost eight hours into the debate, but it's by no means badly attended. 5.32pm BST Lord David Gold, a lawyer and Conservative life peer, calls the bill "creeping euthanasia". He predicts a gloomy future in which mobile euthanasia units will tour the country, … [Read more...] about Assisted dying bill debated in House of Lords

The Guardian has a long tradition of defending the rights of individual citizens within a free society, especially, in the last year, the right of privacy in an environment of unauthorised surveillance. I was appalled, therefore, by the editorial in response to Lord Falconer's bill on assisted dying (18 July). First, the law against killing someone is not absolute; killing is frequently a duty for those in the forces and sometimes for the police. More important, in pontificating on the "moral landscape", it asserts that "better end-of -life care can help". Not always. For those with pancreatic cancer, for example, the terminal stages can reach beyond the effectiveness of even the finest palliative care and impose suffering which would be illegal in a laboratory rat, and would lead to disciplinary action if permitted by a vet. The wishes of the electorate have long been clear: 70%-80% have shown in a succession of polls that they wish for the law to change with appropriate safeguards. … [Read more...] about False logic of those opposing assisted dying