Assisted dying could boost organ donation, claim experts
‘Avoid waste of resources’
LEGALISING assisted dying would benefit the population by increasing organ donation and freeing up NHS resources for other patients, experts have said.
In a controversial move, academics yesterday set out the economic benefits of allowing assisted suicide.
Professor Alec Morton, of the University of Strathclyde, and Dr David Shaw, of the Universities of Basel and Maastricht, say the terminally ill have a poor quality of life, the cost of their care could be better used elsewhere, and those waiting for organ donation could benefit.
Professor Morton said: ‘Some people might suggest it is callous to consider assisted dying from the perspective of resource management – these are real people with real lives.
‘This criticism is misplaced. Part of the motivation for our argument is precisely that these are real people with real lives who wish to avoid suffering. We are simply arguing that the economic costs of denying assisted dying should not be ignored.’
The researchers say permitting assisted dying lets patients avoid a poor quality of life.
They also argue that NHS resources used by patients who would prefer assisted dying could be used for other patients – and organ donation could rise as a result of such a move.
Although they insist their arguments are ‘not intended as a rationale for legalising assisted suicide or euthanasia’ they say they are worth looking at.
Professor Morton’s paper on the subject states: ‘Organ donation could benefit because there are several reasons why donation after assisted dying is better from a clinical and economic perspective.
‘If patients are denied assisted dying, [their] organ function will gradually deteriorate until they die naturally, meaning that transplantation is less likely to be successful.
‘Patients who choose assisted dying have to go through a lengthy process, and organ donation can be easily integrated into that process.’
He added: ‘A patient who is in great pain because of cancer with a life expectancy of around two years will continue to require pain medication and support from clinical staff and also carers for those two years... Legalising assisted dying would avoid this waste of resources.’
The academics estimate that up to £74million could be saved across the UK in this way, and claim this money could go on other resources.
They add: ‘Denying dying imposes great costs on both patients who wish to die and those who do not.
‘However, our argument is not that legalisation of assisted dying should be primarily based on economic arguments. These are supplemental facts that should not be neglected.’
The research is published in the journal Clinical Ethics.
The debate over assisted dying has been long-running in Scotland. All forms of assisted suicide and euthanasia are illegal in the UK. A bid was made to legalise assisted dying by the late MSP Margo Macdonald but that failed in 2010 and another attempt failed in 2015.
Motor neurone disease sufferer Richard Selley died aged 65 at a Swiss euthanasia clinic in September. He travelled from his home in Glenalmond, near Perth, for what his wife Elaine called a ‘dignified’ death.
But Dr Gordon Macdonald, chief executive of the antieuthanasia group Care Not Killing, said: ‘The treatment of patients should be determined by doctors and other clinical staff in order to promote healing or provide palliative care – and not by the bean-counters and their spreadsheets.’