Unleashing state-sanctioned killing in healthcare is not ‘progressive’
This week sees a five-hour debate in Parliament that could lead to one of the most consequential laws this century when MPs hold a free vote on a Private Members’ bill to allow medically assisted suicide in Britain. The reform has previously been backed by Sir Keir Starmer, enjoys popular support and is often claimed to be progressive. It has been promoted by the admirable Dame Esther Rantzen, suffering terminal cancer, with her usual campaigning zeal.
We have seen elsewhere how the number of assisted deaths keeps rising after legalisation. And how rules can get widened over time – to include children, couples wishing to die together, old folks with dementia and young people suffering mental illness – despite initial promises to the contrary. Yet we know doctors find it difficult to predict the timing of death with terminal illnesses – and that they, along with judges, are fallible humans who can make mistakes, be swayed by pressure or fail to detect coercion amid daily clinical stresses.
If Westminster really wants to demonstrate it is progressive, how much better to boost this brilliant branch of medicine pioneered in Britain – along with the shamefully underfunded hospice movement – to ensure decent end-of-life care for everyone. And perhaps our politicians might finally like to fix the overwhelmed social care system instead of continually sweeping it aside?
Bear in mind we live in a nation where several of the worst negligence scandals involved mass killing of elderly patients and the care system has been allowed to rot.
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