dying with dignity?

Dying with dignity in a caring, compassionate environment, surrounded by those we love. This is how most people would like to die. How we achieve a good death has become an increasingly hot topic of controversy.

The fundamental disagreement is whether a good death involves good social, medical, spiritual, and palliative care support or whether people should also have the option to either kill themselves with medical assistance (assisted suicide) or be killed by a medical or other authorised practitioner (euthanasia).

On 16 October 2024, a new bill was presented to the Commons by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater. This represents the latest attempt to legalise assisted suicide. The Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, has promised government time to debate this bill. 1

If it follows the pattern of previous bills, the Leadbeater Bill will aim to legalise assisted suicide for those with less than six months to live. Such a bill, advocates have argued, would be humane and compassionate, with suitable safeguards to protect the vulnerable from being coerced into taking their own lives. Current British law makes assisting anyone to take their own life illegal. Many argue that this is inhumane, and as a result, there have been numerous unsuccessful attempts to change the law over the last two decades. 2

However, we know it will be challenging to maintain the bill’s limited scope. Even before its first reading, up to 54 MPs were calling for the bill’s provisions to include a wider group of patients facing ‘intolerable suffering’. 3

We have seen the push towards more expansive provisions in multiple countries that have brought in similar legislation, including offering assisted suicide or euthanasia to people with anorexia, arthritis, hernias, diabetes, 4 and even tinnitus. 5 Canada is now seriously considering offering assisted death (including euthanasia) for those with mental illness. 6 It is, perhaps, the most egregious example of this rapid expansion of assisted suicide and euthanasia provision.

Many others, including the current Secretary of State for Health and other ministers, 7 are concerned that the current crisis in the NHS, the increasing deterioration of access to palliative care, and the crisis in social care 8 make this a terrible time to introduce such legislation.

It is also not clear that the public is as behind it as campaigners make out. While many support the option when polled, support rapidly dwindles when the safeguarding and other practicalities are discussed. A recent poll suggests that introducing such legislation is very low down on the public’s list of priorities for the new government. 9

As to the argument that people are dying in extreme pain, the evidence from other jurisdictions is that pain and physical suffering are not the drivers of individual calls for assisted suicide and euthanasia but more the fear of being a burden to family and friends. 10

There are many reasons to be concerned about such a bill becoming law – more than there is space to explore here, but you can read CMF’s extensive range of blogs on the topic online. 11 We will also be alerting members on ways that they can continue to raise concerns with their MPs, their professional bodies, and the media.