Lord Joffe’s Assisted Suicide Bill Set for Second Lords Reading

The second reading in the House of Lords for a private members Bill on assisted suicide is set to take place. The Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill proposes to make it legal for doctors to prescribe drugs to a terminally ill person in order for them to take their own life.

|PIC1|The Bill was put forward for consideration by the former human rights lawyer, Lord Joffe, but has been widely criticised by health professionals who have said that the Bill would seriously endanger the rights of the people it is supposed to aid.

Andrea Williams of the Lawyer’s Christian Fellowship has said, “If the law is changed to allow 'assisted dying' it is inevitable that emotional and financial pressures will be brought to bear on vulnerable people. The sick, frail or elderly often feel a burden on relatives, carers and a society short of resources. A law allowing assisted suicide would place them under huge pressure and no amount of safeguards would ever adequately protect the vulnerable.”

The Bill is scheduled to be up for a public reading on 12th May, according to Premier Radio. At that time the Bill will pass through without a vote taking place, and will be put forward before the committee stage, where it will be considered by the House of Lords.

Christian charity, CARE has been one if the most active organisations fighting the Bill; gathering protestors throughout the UK to unite against the proposals, and have even made it possible for people to voice their opposition to the Bill via their mobile phones and computers.

The campaign comes as part of CARE’s ‘Life Valued Campaign’, which has seen many supporters gathering across Britain focusing on exposing and educating the public on some of the most widely believed “myths” about euthanasia.

Hundreds of Christians have gathered in Sheffield, Ballymena, Leeds, Bourne, Bournemouth, Warwick and Durham in opposition to the Bill, and more meetings are planned for the near future.

|TOP|Each of the meetings have featured key talks from CARE’s Head of UK and Church Development, Mike Simmonds, who has given multimedia presentations and interviews and united with special guests on a number of occasions.

Joni Eareckson Tada, the quadriplegic speaker and writer who has opposed euthanasia measures in America, has spoken out powerfully against the Euthanasia Bill.

There have also been video clips about retired doctor Ann Turner, who took her own life with the help of doctors at a controversial Swiss clinic, and Julie Hill, who partly overcame a serious spinal cord injury with bionic implants.

During the campaign, CARE has looked to highlight the results from a unique survey carried out by Brunel University, which surveyed 900 doctors about their views and experiences on euthanasia.

An overwhelming 82 percent of these doctors supported the current legal ban on medical involvement in assisted suicide.

|AD|Simmonds commented, “There is no great demand for any form of euthanasia in our nation. It is the desire of a small minority who are very powerful in lobbying for it.”

He continued, “We’re living in dangerous times. We are facing a change in society’s thinking that could be catastrophic. What we are talking about is changing the way we view life and death - and therefore the nature of humanity.”

Assisted Dying was previously up before review in 1994. At that time the House of Lords unanimously recommended that no changes be made to the current euthanasia legislation.

Neurologist Lord Walton of Detchant was the Chair of the select committee at that time, and he later described new legislation in the area by saying: “We concluded that it was virtually impossible to ensure that all acts of euthanasia were truly voluntary and that any liberalisation of the law in the United Kingdom could not be abused. We were also concerned that vulnerable people - the elderly, lonely, sick or distressed - would feel pressure, whether real or imagined, to request early death.”

Peter Kerridge, Chief Executive of Premier said, “We have good reason to believe legalising assisted suicide would split the medical profession. 75% of doctors in a major poll (Hospital Doctor, 15 May 2003) have already indicated that they will not participate in euthanasia if it is legalised, and a change in the law, as in the case of abortion, will lead to doctors who conscientiously object being excluded from specialities where euthanasia becomes part of the 'full range of services'.

“Euthanasia legislation would have a devastating effect throughout the National Health Service on already critical levels of staffing, where we are reliant especially on many overseas nurses from Muslim, Christian and other faith backgrounds who are strongly opposed to the practice.”

Historically doctors have been opposed to both euthanasia and assisted suicide, with the Hippocratic Oath prohibiting both, as well as recent codes of ethics contained in the Declaration of Geneva and the International Code of Medical Ethics.

Kerridge concluded, “The majority of doctors in the UK remain opposed to assisted dying and medical opposition has actually intensified in recent years. The largest most recent surveys show only 22-38% of doctors in favour of a change in the law. This was made very clear to the recent House of Lords Select Committee examining Lord Joffe's Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill. The opposition to euthanasia is strongest amongst doctors who work most closely with dying patients and are most familiar with treatments available.”