‘Assisted dying will be legal, we have to decide how it works’
THE assisted dying debate must move beyond whether we should change the law to how we will do it, a campaigner has said.
Dad-of-two Phil Newby believes it is now almost inevitable that the right of terminally ill people to end their lives will be legalised in the face of unstoppable public opinion.
Phil, 53, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease nine years ago, said: “The conversation in this country should get beyond ‘if’ we have an assisted dying law. It should move into ‘what will the law be?’
“More time needs to be spent on that to show everyone how this would work. Then we will be much better able to make a good decision, knowing where the gaps and challenges are is important so that we can craft a good law.”
The Daily Express Give Us Our Last Rights crusade calls for assisted dying to be legalised for adults with less than six months to live.
Our petition, signed by more than 194,000 people, has secured a debate in Parliament on April 29. Phil, from Rutland, East Midlands, began his fight after living with MND for five years and facing an “agonising decision” as his muscle function deteriorated. He said: “I thought this was the time when I would have to commit suicide. If I missed that window, I would have to go wherever the disease took me.
“I was lying there thinking it shouldn’t be part of a civilised country that I was in this position.”
Phil sought a judicial review to determine whether the ban on assisted dying was compatible with his human rights. But his case was rejected by the High Court and Court of Appeal.
He said: “There’s an awful lot of fear. Knowing that you can put a stop to it at a certain stage is important.
“I’m not sure I’m in a place where life has become intolerable and I’m not sick enough yet to ask for an assisted death. But I do see increasingly my dignity and my humanity being stripped away and everything I do being governed by rotas and machinery and equipment.”
Phil’s campaign is backed by his wife Charlotte and daughters Sasha,
21, and Jess, 20.
He says evidence from other countries has increasingly debunked opponents’ arguments.
But he added: “I don’t think these arguments are unimportant, anything but. But they can be managed and safeguarded against.
“Now we should be looking at what happens next. Where and how and when do we take on assisted dying?
“Ever since women’s right to abortion was gained in the 1960s, this has lagged behind. There has been an ethical hole in our legal system, our medical system.
“The public can see that assisted dying should happen. Politicians aren’t there yet but I think the ethical buildup will be too much for them.”