Why I will vote against Assisted Dying

On November 29th, MPs will debate and vote on whether assisted dying should be made legal in the UK. This will be the third such vote, the last being in 2015. Since then, several countries have legalised assisted dying. In the UK, a poll funded by an assisted dying lobby group, Dignity in Dying, which was conducted in March by Opinium Research showed that about three-quarters of those surveyed supported this legislation.  However, a ComRes poll found that support dropped to 43% when the arguments against it were explained.

 The argument in favour is that people may choose to end their life when in their last year and are suffering. 

Canada has a programme called MAID, or “medical assistance in death,” available to those with serious and chronic physical health conditions or terminal illnesses. When it was first introduced in 2016, only 1,018 people died this way, but by 2022, that number had risen to 13,241, with an average age of 77, accounting for 4.1% of all deaths in Canada. There have also been proposals to extend eligibility to those with mental health conditions. In the Netherlands in 2019, 6,361 people chose to end their own lives. If Britain were to see a similar proportion as Canada, around 26,000 people—roughly the population of a significant town—could choose assisted dying annually.

Those in favour often say, “You wouldn’t treat your dog this way; if it’s very old or suffering, you would take it to the vet to be put down.” Yet, any vet will tell you that people sometimes bring in their pets for euthanasia when the animal has become inconvenient, or vet bills are likely to mount up.

This, to me, is the crux of the issue: might our elderly feel they are a burden to their family, a strain on resources, or a barrier to family plans? With care homes being cripplingly expensive and carers hard to find, might some unscrupulous heirs hope to speed up inheritance by encouraging an elder relative to consider this path? Advocates of assisted dying argue that the legislation will not permit depressed individuals or disabled people to take this route. But if this law is passed, restrictions could be eased over time, as has happened elsewhere. In both Belgium and the Netherlands, child euthanasia has been legalised.

Would NHS staff be required to help someone to take their own life? I imagine quite a few practitioners would baulk at this.

Interestingly, from a BMA survey, 83% of palliative care doctors are against assisted dying, with only 6% saying they would be willing to participate in any way. Hospices play a vital role in supporting people through their final months, but are poorly funded, recent reports reveal that only one-third of hospice running costs are funded by the Government, leaving them reliant on donations, bequests, and charity shops.

Care homes are closing across the Highlands, and our hospitals are full of infirm people waiting for care beds, some only available 100 miles away from their families. Workers in the care sector earn less than those in the hospitality sector. We certainly aren’t doing a good job looking after our elderly these days. With an ageing population we need a much higher investment in care for our older generation than currently. With incredibly tight budgets and nursing homes costing well over £1000 per week it is worrying to think that it would be economically useful if people chose to take the assisted dying route.

The vote will be a free vote. I am being contacted by many MP’s and Lords who, like me, feel we should instead look after our elderly and invest in our care sector. I believe that this bill is the start of a slippery slope.