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Assisted suicide poses particular risks to neurodivergent people
Former chair of the all-party parliamentary group for special educational needs TOM HUNT examines some tragic cases from countries which have legalised assisted death
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AT 12 years old, I had the reading and writing age of an eight-year-old. Yet as a young adult, I graduated from Oxford, and had the honour of serving as a member of Parliament for Ipswich 2019-2024. So what happened?
The plight of neurodivergent people is sorely overlooked in the UK. So many are written off because of their differences or weaknesses. With the right support and a lot of hard work, weaknesses can be turned into strengths.
Dyspraxia, for example, can result in improved long-term memory. A difficulty in following instructions can develop innovative, out-of-the-box thinking. Whether it’s autism, ADHD, dyslexia or dyspraxia, having your brain wired a different way isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
But if the right support isn’t available, the resultant suffering and frustrations can take neurodivergent people to a dark place of self-doubt and depression. Suicide is a leading cause of death for autistic people.
Even before Kim Leadbeater’s “assisted dying” Bill is debated in the Commons this week, Westminster Tube station has been filled with posters glorifying taking one’s life as a means to “end suffering.” In a world where “assisted dying” is legal, neurodivergent people are especially vulnerable to pressures.
Just look to places where “assisted dying” is already legal. A Belgian study analysed 100 consecutive patients who had requested euthanasia for psychological suffering at a psychiatric clinic. A total of 19 out of 100 patients had a diagnosis of autism – in a population where the estimated rate of autism is 1-2 per cent. Eight of those approved to die were only diagnosed with autism after being referred to the psychiatric clinic in the first place. Was their suffering truly hopeless? Had they received the right support for their condition, could the outcome have been different?
Incidentally, a further 48 of the patients in the study had major depressive disorder, and 27 had borderline personality disorder. Ten of the patients who asked for help to die had bipolar disorder – and 10 were approved.
Meanwhile in the Netherlands, another country where such state-sanctioned deaths are legal, a study found that out of 927 published cases of euthanasia, six cases were authorised on the basis of autism alone. Over three-quarters of the 39 patients in this study diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or other intellectual disabilities had loneliness listed as a factor contributing to their unbearable suffering. The notes relating to one young man in his 20s said:
“The patient had felt unhappy since childhood and was persistently bullied because he was just a bit different from others [ … ] [He] longed for social contacts but was unable to connect with others. This reinforced his sense of loneliness. The consequences of his autism were unbearable for him.”
The only story of an attempt to prosecute doctors for abuse of the euthanasia process in Belgium was the case of Tine Nys, a physically healthy 38-year-old woman who suffered from depression and autism. Her diagnosis came two months prior to her death and she hadn’t undergone any treatment, raising serious questions about whether her condition was, from any perspective, incurable. Her sisters insisted that whilst she’d expressed a wish to die as a teenager, she hadn’t needed any psychological help for 15 years and this recent depression was a result of a relationship breakdown. Her doctors were ultimately acquitted because there was insufficient evidence to prove criminal intent.
In Canada, there seems to be a similar trajectory. In 2024 an otherwise healthy 27-year-old autistic woman (known only as MV) applied for assisted suicide with no physical or terminal condition. Her father launched a legal case to save her but the court ruled that the process had been correctly followed and that doctors were allowed to end MV’s life. There are few studies looking into this data, but stories like MV’s and the comparative studies of Belgium and the Netherlands should not fill us with hope.
If we offer the neurodivergent who suffer from loneliness (including but not limited to ASD) death as an alternative to support, then we have failed them. We should learn from Belgium and the Netherlands and not legalise assisted suicide.
Tom Hunt chaired the all-party parliamentary group for special educational needs in the last parliament.
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