THE General Synod voted almost unanimously on the Tuesday for a motion referring to the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life ) Bill and calling on the Government to support palliative care relatively than enact “a law that puts essentially the most vulnerable in danger”.
Moving the motion, the Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally, said that a peaceful death, for self and family members, was the will of individuals on each side of the talk. But she was profoundly concerned by the move to legalise assisted suicide. This was based on theology, policy, and her own experience as a nurse, caring for the dying. The Church’s opposition had at all times been grounded on its calling to guard the vulnerable, she said.
On top of a principled objection to assisted suicide, there have been specific issues with the Bill currently with Parliament. In a context through which only 30 per cent of hospice care was funded by the NHS, it was “unthinkable” that the state should decide to fund assisted dying fully, she said. The Government’s own equality assessment recognised that the numerous protected groups, including disabled people, women, and folks vulnerable to coercion, may be disproportionately affected.
The Church must take life after death seriously and, subsequently, resist “death-dealing practices” exemplified by this Bill. Every person held “immeasurable value”, which couldn’t be diminished by physical ailments or loss of colleges. “A Church whose hands are consecrated to bring life cannot support the prescription of life-ending drugs,” she concluded.
Dr Nick Land (York) recalled meeting a Belgian undertaker and part-time death doula who supported families as they approached an assisted suicide. The doula had observed that “assisted suicide was a disaster” for lots of the families, especially when children were divided over the choice of a parent to hunt to finish their life: she often saw families who were “indignant that their parents had deserted them” or ashamed, feeling that they were “not enough” to maintain them alive. Dr Land said that the protections within the Bill were inadequate, but no protection could stop families from tearing themselves apart once assisted suicide became available. “This is a line our nation must not cross.”
Sam Atkins/Church TimesDr Nick Land (York)
Philip Baldwin (London) was in favour of assisted dying, and thought that the present Bill was near the required protections. Helping people to die well was “loving, kind, and compassionate”, he said, and in keeping with Christian practice. Those who sought to die mustn’t be “shamed by the national Church”. His initial opposition had been modified since listening to those that had suffered at the top of life. The Bill was about providing alternative, he argued; even when only a couple of took it up, many more could be comforted by knowing that the choice was there. “We must not allow assisted dying to grow to be stigmatised, and force people to choose from a peaceful death and their faith.”
The Revd Dr Charlie Baczyk-Bell (Southwark) thanked Bishop Mullally for her careful speech, and echoed Dr Land’s hostility to the Bill’s psychiatric assessments. He also opposed assisted dying on principle, owing to its risks to essentially the most vulnerable. This proposed change to the law shifted something necessary in society’s approach to death, he suggested, which might undermine the hospice movement (itself founded by a Christian, Dame Cicely Saunders), and would affect the doctor-patient relationship. He cautioned against members’ hectoring others who disagreed with them and urged the Church to utilise the expertise of the laity.
The Revd Jonathan Macy (Southwark) had previously worked in care homes with individuals with learning difficulties. He recalled one resident, Albert, who had Down’s Syndrome, and who at one time became seriously unwell and ended up in intensive care. It was not long before one in all the doctors was wondering how they might withdraw care and “let things take their course”. That conversation was being had only because Albert was disabled, Mr Macy said. “You can’t treat people like that, especially ones and not using a voice.” He and colleagues stayed at Albert’s side until he recovered, and he lived for several joyful years. The Church must proceed defending care for many who didn’t have a voice, Mr Macy said.
Dr Simon Eyre (Chichester) quoted a verse from Isaiah about God’s sustaining people into old age. Jesus regarded everyone with great care, Dr Eyre said, and so must his followers. But hospices were in crisis owing to a scarcity of funds; no person would expect other parts of the NHS to be depending on charitable giving, but only 25 per cent of hospice funding got here from the State. Medical organisations had come out in opposition to assisted suicide.
Prudence Dailey (Oxford) said that she was a full-time carer for her 92-year-old mother, who had recently told her that she had lived too long. But Miss Dailey said that she intended to make every remaining day as joyful because it might be. In one sense, her mother was a burden on Miss Dailey’s life, but so had she been to her mother as a premature baby. “We are burdens to at least one one other.” The commonest reason that individuals selected assisted suicide was a fear of being a burden, she said. “Send a transparent message where the Church stands on this issue.”
Sam Atkins/Church TimesPrudence Dailey (Oxford)
The Bill would change society for ever, Piyush Jani (Ely) warned. “How we take care of the weak and the dying defines our society.” As a consultant surgeon and a son whose mother had recently died of cancer, he had sat on the bedside of many approaching death. Choice was rarely exercised in a vacuum, he warned, and people facing terminal illness had their considering profoundly affected by loneliness and “internal coercion” by their fears of being a burden. There was also a risk that limited NHS resources could be diverted from underfunded palliative care to a state suicide service.
Bradley Smith (Chichester) praised Bishop Mullally for standing up for the God-given dignity of human life and for many who served in hospices caring for the dying, including chaplains. “The way forward for Christian hospitals and institutions can be under threat” if the Bill was passed. He hoped that there was still time for the Church to “turn back public opinion” on assisted suicide.
The Revd Robert Thompson (London) asked how the Church got here to its position on assisted suicide. There had been a 2022 motion carried overwhelmingly within the Synod, but, he suggested, this had “bundled in” palliative care with assisted suicide. He was not, in principle, against assisted dying, informed by his eight years as a hospice chaplain, however the safeguards within the Bill could still be improved. He would, he said, be voting against the motion. since it asked the Government to not enact the Bill. This was “democratically unacceptable”. “We select whether we’ve anaesthetic or other medical interventions, and I hope we are able to decide to enable those to finish their lives,” he concluded.
The Revd Martin Davy (Oxford) said that the daughter of a members of his congregation had been given months to live after being diagnosed with cancer, but was now entirely cancer-free years later. He wondered what would have happened had assisted suicide had been an option. He didn’t wish to diminish the suffering that the dying went through, however the gospel called on Christians to “take heart” and stand with the suffering of Christ. Disease, disability, or dementia couldn’t rob humans of their God-given dignity, he said. “Dependency shouldn’t be a threat to our dignity, but an invite to like.” A compassionate society mustn’t consider in relieving others of the burden for caring for them.
Fiona MacMillan (London) said that assisted-suicide laws had been prolonged to disabled people in Canada only a couple of years after the law got here into force. Canada set a “terrifying precedent” of the slippery slope, should assisted dying grow to be legal here. The UK, she said, was an increasingly unsafe place to be disabled, with its cuts to advantages and rising hate crime. She urged members to back the motion and demand that the Government protect vulnerable people.
Dr Alan Dowen (Chester) said that he would hate to complete his life “racked in uncontrollable pain” and that, while he couldn’t support the motion, he affirmed his own belief that one and all no matter age or infirmity was of immeasurable value. Giving people permission to finish their very own suffering was an act of affection, he suggested; “so can it really be contrary to God’s law?” Even with good palliative care, some people would die with pain and indignity, he suggested.
Abigail Ogier (Manchester) was ambivalent over assisted dying, she said, because her life was not hers to find out, but belonged to God. She was in favour of “excellent” palliative care, especially after her experience serving in a hospice throughout the pandemic.
Sam Atkins/Church TimesDr Alan Dowen (Chester)
Dr Laura Oliver (Blackburn), a GP, said that one in all her cancer patients had consistently sought to finish his life after his diagnosis. He would have met the standards of the Bill comfortably, but her team had given him support, including offering him a psychologist, who helped him. The best answer to fear of suffering was not death, but support to live, she said. Instead of selecting to die, her patient had been given the chance to live well for the time that God had given him, and recently celebrated his grandson’s birthday. “Every person is precious to God and made in his image,” she concluded.
Jane Patterson (Sheffield), an NHS surgeon and medical expert, said that the shift to palliative care at the top of an individual’s life often took too long. “Many live in denial that natural death is the top of life on earth,” she said, which was ultimately a spiritual problem that the Church must speak into. Most people didn’t die in agony or distress, but the standard of life in the ultimate days might be improved by an earlier deal with palliative care, she suggested, and urged members to hope for the House of Lords because it discussed the Bill.
The Bishop of Blackburn, the Rt Revd Philip North, said that his father — who had died a couple of months ago — would have been a primary candidate for assisted suicide. During his final days, holding his hand, Bishop North had realised how unsuitable it might have been to finish his life artificially. He already knew the strong arguments against assisted suicide, but had felt something “raw and visceral” that it might be utterly unsuitable to remove life, which was a present of God. “Undermining life in any context takes away something of its beauty and its mystery.”
Fr Thomas Seville CR (Religious Communities) said that everybody was splendidly made to live and die. All the Abrahamic faiths shared a caution against assisted suicide, he said.
The Revd Paul Cartwright (Leeds) said that society was being asked to just accept the concept some lives were “not value living”. It might sound compassionate at first glance, but he had been placed in palliative care in 2009. If he had ended his life then, he would have missed seeing his children grow up. He warned of a slippery slope after legalisation, stretching assisted dying to the disabled or the depressed. “This isn’t alternative: it’s pressure; it’s not mercy: it’s abandonment.” He urged the Church to defend life for the sick, the hurting, and the unseen.
The Interim Bishop of Liverpool, the Rt Revd Ruth Worsley, spoke of sharing special moments with people at the top of their lives who received compassionate care in hospices and from family. Even within the NHS, people saw the immense value of spiritual care provided by chaplains and were increasing funding for them, she said. She urged members to support the motion and demand more cash for, and universal access to, palliative-care services.
Dr Angus Goudie (Durham) suggested that there was “no real alternative” between a totally funded assisted-dying service and a “patchily funded” palliative-care service. There was a danger of “scope creep”, which could change society in ways in which few wanted, but that were, he said, unattainable to reverse. If a hospice couldn’t opt out of any future assisted-suicide system, it might see its entire ethic destroyed, he said.
Summing up, Bishop Mullally said: “This debate can shape society and our nation. I remain deeply concerned about this laws and its possible impact on essentially the most vulnerable.” She pledged to interact with the Bill when it reached the House of Lords, and encouraged members to hope for peers.
The motion was carried by 238-7, with seven recorded abstentions. It read:
That this Synod, in light of recent debates on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, reaffirm that one and all is of immeasurable and irreducible value, and request His Majesty’s Government work to enhance funding and access to desperately needed palliative care services as a substitute of enacting a law that puts essentially the most vulnerable in danger.
Bishop Mullally led a prayer for many who “sit within the shadow of death and people who sit with them”.
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