Next week, a Bill which seeks to make assisted dying legal will be coming before Parliament. It is something many people feel strongly about, and I have a great deal of sympathy with both sides. I will be voting against the Bill and as your representative in Parliament, I would like to explain why.
I have been talking to some of our faith groups extensively over the past few weeks to gather their views, and have heard some heartrending stories from the wider Solihull community both for and against assisted dying. But I do not think that there are enough safeguards in place to prevent the undoubtedly good intentions of the Bill being misused.
According to the BMA, palliative care is advanced enough that it can alleviate the symptoms of dying and terminal illness when used effectively. I understand someone preferring to die rather than live a life of constant pain, but with good, effective palliative care this choice may not need to be made.
Whatever the Bill says, it could mean something entirely different in practice. The idea that people should be ‘expected’ to die because they are disabled or elderly is terrifying. In Washington State, where assisted dying is legal, 61% of those given lethal drugs listed being a burden on family as a reason for wanting to die. Not unbearable pain, not an inability to enjoy life, but fear of being a burden. If assisted dying is made legal, will someone severely ill or disabled end up looking at their carer and thinking ‘It would be so much better for them if I died?’ That is a thought that frightens me.
We have an aging population. Over the next few years, we will be facing huge challenges in how we look after the elderly, disabled, and terminally ill. Equally importantly, we have to rethink how we look after our carers - in our town, we have many carers doing selfless work with little support or thank-you.
Assisted dying is not the solution to caring for our elderly or caring for our carers. I do not want to see it become this, however inadvertently. I respect those who are for assisted dying, and I am sure they support it for the best of motives. But it is not the way forward for me.