Members of the U.K. House of Commons [Parliament] are to be given a “free vote” on whether assisted dying should be legalized - but a top Christian doctor has questioned the timing of the legal bill.
Assisted dying was rejected by parliamentarians in 2015 but Labour MP Kim Leadbeater is pushing for a renewed debate on the issue after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer pledged to allow MPs a vote, after indicating his own support for a change in law.
Susan Marriott, a former general practitioner, now head of public policy for the Christian Medical Fellowship (CMF) based in London, questioned the motives of the prime minister, in a paper entitled, “Legalizing assisted suicide: why now?’
Marriott believed that the issue of euthanasia was not a priority for most Britons. She cited a poll of 2,000 adults, which showed the issue ranked number 22 of 23 most important issues needing attention by the new British Government. Other issues such as Artificial Intelligence and international trade deals ranked higher, she said.
“Only four per cent of those polled thought it should be a priority for politicians,” Marriott wrote. “The drive to rush this bill isn’t coming from the electorate.”
Furthermore, Marriott questioned whether in any case now would be a “timely prescription” for Starmer to install a national framework for euthanasia, since the Health and Social Care Secretary West Streeting has pointed out the dire condition of the National Health Service, including end-of-life care. She expressed concern that legalising assisted dying would result in “a prescription that comes with the very nasty side effect of seeing people, quoting Streeting, ‘coerced [into assisted suicide] by the lack of support available’.”
Marriott referenced a Better End of Life report recently published by cancer care charity Marie Curie. It contained a post-bereavement survey evidencing that medical staff in health and social care settings had no time to care for dying people. “Heartbreaking” was Marriott’s verdict, pointing out that half of survey respondents expressed unhappiness with the care a dying loved one received and one in 17 had made a formal complaint.
Both the recent Lord Darzi report into the state of the NHS, noting the national health body is in “serious trouble”, and a crisis in general practice were further issues negatively influencing end of life care, according to Marriott. Hospice UK also reported this summer that hospices were making staff redundant because of the lack of financial support: “the worst state for 20 years,” Marriott added.
“People approaching the end of life need better support,” wrote Marriott. “Their bereaved relatives are telling us that those who died recently needed carers who had time to care for them. They also needed access to their doctor in whichever area of the country they lived in. They needed hospice care that was properly staffed and properly funded.”
“If Sir Keir wants to improve the quality of life for ordinary Britons facing their terminal illness, then tackling these things is what is urgent,” she added.
“If parliament instead focuses on ploughing energy into producing and debating a bill to attempt to make it legal to assist them in committing suicide, then it is seriously missing the mark.”
