‘Law will damage care ethic of doctors’

ASSISTED dying is legal in a number of places across the world, including the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, 11 US jurisdictions, Canada and parts of Australia.

New Zealand and Spain have passed legislation which is set to come into force this year.

Campaigners say it is high time that Britain ended its ban on assisted dying, but there is strong opposition amid fears a new law could make vulnerable people feel pressurised into ending their lives.

Following a debate in the Lords last week, Nola Leach, CEO of Christian charity CARE, said: “We believe giving assent to assisted suicide would undermine the caring ethic which underpins our medical profession and society at large.

“Introducing such a regime would integrate into our culture the belief that certain lives are no longer worth living, and would legitimise the involvement of doctors, society’s preservers of life, in the procurement of death.

“Whilst for some the bill may be perceived as granting choice, marginalised groups are concerned that it will lead to others seeing the option as a duty to end their lives.”

There is also a debate about who should qualify. The House of Lords bill would be limited to mentally competent, terminally ill adults with six months to live.

But Dawn, a member of campaign group My Death, My Decision, believed this was too restrictive.

MDMD chair Trevor Moore said: “Dawn’s story highlights the critical need for politicians not to lock those with incurable suffering outside of efforts to change the law.”