PROPOSALS to introduce a new assisted dying law are being pursued with “indecent haste” and risk pressuring “vulnerable people to end their lives,” campaigners warned today.
The remarks were made after Labour MP Kim Leadbeater unveiled her private member’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill today.
Covering England and Wales, it would allow assisted dying for those with less than six months to live if signed off by two doctors and a High Court judge — “layers of safeguards” Ms Leadbeater argues would “probably make it the most robust piece of legislation in the world.”
A free vote will take place on November 29, giving MPs less than three weeks to consider the legislation — “plenty of time,” according to Ms Leadbeater, but not enough for those who fear the legislation could lead to coercion of the vulnerable.
Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) co-founder Linda Burnip told the Star: “Since this legislation is a matter of life and death for disabled people, we are horrified that MPs have only just seen what they are being asked to vote on later this month.
“At least 13 ministers are already talking about extending assisted killing to people who are not terminally ill, simply disabled, which is of great concern. This needs more scrutiny.”
Chief executive of Care Not Killing Dr Gordon Macdonald warned the legislation would “normalise suicide” and backed an open letter signed by over 3,000 medics calling on palliative care to be fixed before any moves to legislate for assisted dying.
He added: “This Bill is being rushed with indecent haste and ignores the deep-seated problems in the UK’s broken and patchy palliative care system.
“It also ignores data from around the world that shows changing the law would put pressure on vulnerable people to end their lives.
“This is why the safest law is the one we currently have and why we urge MPs to reject this Bill and focus on extending palliative care to the one in four Brits who desperately need it but can’t access it.”
MSPs have been warned that current proposals to legalise assisted dying in Scotland could eventually include people with mental illnesses or diabetes.
