A BILL to legalise assisted dying would risk causing “tens of millions of vulnerable people” to feel that that they had a “duty” to finish their lives, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said.
He issued a press release on Wednesday morning, before the First Reading of a Private Member’s Bill tabled by the Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, which might allow life-ending medical help for terminally ailing adults with not more than six months to live (Leader comment and Press, 11 October).
The Archbishop said that, while people on each side of the controversy wished to supply compassion and to enable family members to die with dignity, Ms Leadbeater’s Bill “is not going to achieve those things”.
He continued: “Legalising assisted suicide would disproportionately impact many tens of millions of vulnerable people, who might perceive themselves as a burden on those around them and the health service. My concern is that, once you’ll be able to ask for assisted suicide, it soon becomes something that you’re feeling that you simply must do. Permission slips into being duty. This doesn’t represent true alternative for all, and I worry that no amount of safeguards will ensure everyone’s safety at probably the most vulnerable point of their lives.”
Speaking to the BBC on Tuesday evening, the Archbishop of Canterbury branded the concept of assisted dying as “dangerous”, warning that it will result in a “slippery slope”, and leave elderly and gravely ailing patients feeling compelled to have their life ended medically.
He said that he had observed a marked degradation of the concept “everyone, nevertheless useful they’re, is of equal value to society,” and was unconcerned about past poll evidence that the Church of England was out of step with public opinion on the problem.
The Archbishop of York told The Yorkshire Post on Tuesday: “We shouldn’t legalise assisted suicide, we must always offer one of the best possible palliative care services to make sure the best standards of care and compassion for all terminally ailing patients. No amount of safeguards could ensure the security of probably the most vulnerable in society should there be a change within the law allowing for assisted suicide.
“There could be serious and fundamental consequences for the entire of society if these proposals are accepted, especially for many who are at probably the most vulnerable point of their lives and for many who love and take care of them.”
The Bill was also condemned by leaders of the Church in Wales, who said in a press release on Tuesday that the Christian faith had at all times been rooted “in the fact of pain and mortality”, in addition to “the incalculable value of every human person, no matter social standing, access to resources, or physical or mental ability”.
“This is an especially difficult issue over which different people, including Christians, may have arrived at differing views with one of the best of intentions,” said the statement from the Archbishop of Wales, the Rt Revd Andrew John, with the Bishops of Bardsey, Llandaff, Monmouth, St Davids, St Asaph, and Swansea & Brecon.
“None the less, the protection of probably the most vulnerable people in our society from the risks inherent on this measure should be the paramount issue — for that reason, we cannot in good conscience support the proposed laws.”
The Bishops said that the Christian faith had at all times been rooted “in the fact of pain and mortality”, in addition to “the incalculable value of every human person, no matter social standing, access to resources, or physical or mental ability. . .
“In that spirit, shown to us within the person of Jesus, we give our heartfelt support to the extension of one of the best possible palliative care to all who require it, in order that no limits are placed on the compassion which we show as individuals and as a society.”
The Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, also urged MPs to oppose the Bill, warning that it risked pressuring the vulnerable and disabled to finish their lives prematurely.
“This proposed change within the law could also be a source of relief to some — but it can bring great fear and trepidation to many,” he said in a pastoral letter read out across his archdiocese on Sunday.
“Once assisted suicide is approved by the law, a key protection of human life falls away. Pressure mounts on those that are nearing death, from others and even from themselves, to finish their life as a way to take away a perceived burden of care from their family, for the avoidance of pain, or for the sake of an inheritance.”
The Cardinal said that assurances of “firm and reliable safeguards” could be offered by the supporters of the Bill, which could be “rigorously framed”.
He said, nevertheless, that safeguards had failed in “each country” with the same law, as conditions “widened and widened, making assisted suicide and medical killing, or euthanasia, increasingly more available and accepted”.
A committee report on assisted dying was to be debated within the Oireachtas, the Irish parliament, on Thursday of last week. The Roman Catholic Primate of All Ireland, the Archbishop of Armagh, the Most Revd Eamon Martin, called on voters to ask MPs and senators where they stood on “protecting end of life care”, before elections next March.
“For all those that cherish a culture of life across these islands, the introduction of laws to allow assisted suicide is an affront to a protected and protective society — such laws needs to be strongly opposed,” he said in a press release this week.
“As a society, we’re defined by the extent to which we take care of our most vulnerable, including those affected by disabilities, terminal illness or otherwise nearing the top of life. While this can be a Gospel imperative, it’s noteworthy that medical and healthcare professionals are also gravely concerned at an evolving political ideology, which might interfere with their calling to ‘do no harm’ and legally erode the best to life in any respect stages.”
The text of Ms Leadbeater’s Bill had not been made available by midweek on her website, but was said by the campaigning organisation Dignity in Dying to supply a “historic opportunity” for MPs to “take heed to the general public mood” and to permit “dying people a correct alternative over how they die”.
“The ban on assisted dying is forcing terminally ailing people to suffer despite one of the best care, spend their life savings travelling to Switzerland, or take matters into their very own hands at home, with relatives often left traumatised,” the group’s chief executive, Sarah Wootton, said in a press release.
“A cross-party inquiry examined this issue for 14 months, and located that assisted-dying laws world wide for terminally ailing persons are protected and sometimes bring improvements to end-of-life care.”
This was rejected, nevertheless, by the Welsh Bishops, who said that there was “abundant evidence” from other countries “that good intentions can swiftly result in bad and unintended outcomes, and to the devaluing of all human life”.
Cardinal Nichols said that Ms Leadbeater’s Bill raised “crucial questions” about “the care and protection afforded by our society to each human being”. The proposed “radical change” risked “bringing about for all medical professionals a slow change from an obligation to care to an obligation to kill”.
“I do know that, for many individuals, there may be profound fear on the prospect of prolonged suffering and lack of dignity. Yet such suffering will be eased,” said the Cardinal, whose Bishops’ Conference website is providing posters, draft letters, and other resources for opposition to the Bill.
“Part of this debate, then, should be the necessity and duty to boost palliative care and hospice provision, in order that there can genuinely be, for all of us, the prospect of living our last days in the corporate of family members and caring medical professionals. This is actually dying with dignity.”
Eight European countries — Austria, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland — currently permit assisted suicide, while laws to facilitate the practice, which can be allowed in 11 of fifty US states, is into consideration in France, Finland, Norway, and Sweden.
In June, church representatives welcomed a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that countries had no obligation to permit assisted suicide, but additionally voiced concern at suggestions that it may very well be recognised as a human right in future.
A separate Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults Bill, tabled in July by Lord Falconer of Thornton (Labour), a former Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, also awaits its Second Reading within the House of Lords (News, 2 August).
