The Bishop of London and Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster are among the many signatories of a joint statement by faith leaders urging MPs to not pass a bill legalising assisted suicide.
Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill has prompted national debate on the problem ahead of a debate in Parliament on Friday. She has claimed her bill would prevent abuse by implementing the “strictest safeguards anywhere on this planet”, which include requests for assisted suicide being signed off by two doctors and a judge.
Critics are unpersuaded by the promise of safeguards, and the letter from the religion leaders warns that a “right to die” may “all too easily” turn into a “duty to die” for vulnerable people.
They call as a substitute for efforts to be focused on raising the standard and availability of palliative care, which they are saying is “worryingly underfunded”.
“Part of the role of religion leaders in communities is to supply spiritual and pastoral look after the sick and for the dying. We hold the hands of family members of their final days, we pray with families each before and after death. It is to this vocation that now we have been called, and it’s from this vocation that we write,” the letter reads.
“Our pastoral roles make us deeply concerned in regards to the impact the bill would have on essentially the most vulnerable, opening up the potential of life-threatening abuse and coercion. This is a priority we all know is shared by many individuals, with and without faith.”
The letter was published in The Observer newspaper over the weekend and signed by 29 faith leaders who include the Bishop of London and former Chief Nursing Officer, Dame Sarah Mullally, the top of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the Coptic Orthodox Archbishop of London, Archbishop Angaelos, the top of the Evangelical Alliance Gavin Calver, CARE CEO Ross Hendry, and the Chief Rabbi, Sir Ephraim Mirvis.
A separate open letter opposing the bill has been signed by 73 academic experts in health, end-of-life care and the legal system who warn that “coercion could be a reality with a change within the law”.
“To deny that is to disregard the 400,000 cases annually of domestic abuse for older people in England and Wales,” they said.
“If the law were to vary, we’d see individuals with terminal disease feeling they need to accept assisted suicide because (as has been the case for over 47 per cent of those looking for assisted suicide in Oregon and over 59 per cent within the State of Washington) they might feel they were a burden to family and friends.”
They state that Ms Leadbeater’s private member’s bill is “an inadequate parliamentary process for a difficulty of such ethical and legal complexity”, and say that it will be “difficult” for a High Court judge to analyze all of the “complexities” involved in assessing individuals’ mental and decision-making capacities.
“It lacks prudence to permit such a radical change to healthcare practice at a time of crisis for the NHS, especially given the increased financial pressures on general practice, hospices and care homes,” they write.
