Holly Baines reports on personal stories we received from our supporters and analyses the ways in which assisted suicide will warp our culture’s perception of the value of life
As the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill approaches its second reading in Parliament, concerns about the implications of this bill have been increasing.
If we legalise assisted suicide, we will undermine our cultural perception of the sanctity of life and our medical professionals’ devotion to fighting death and preserving the quality of life.
Eventually, this will create a culture that sees life as a commodity and opts for assisted suicide as an ‘easy out’ for those suffering.
We asked supporters to share their experiences with us and explain why they are concerned about the impact that legalising suicide would have on our culture, our social morality, and most importantly the vulnerable members of our society.
These are a few of their stories.
Story #1: Misdiagnosis almost cost woman’s life
One of our supporters, Brian, shared about his mother’s last 5 years of life, during which time she suffered from chronic heart failure.
However, those precious final years were almost cut short by 3 years after a doctor decided to stop all life-prolonging treatment:
“My mother suffered from chronic heart failure during the final 5 years of her life here on earth. About 2-3 years in, having been admitted twice during a 2-month period, mum was placed on what was then known as the “Liverpool Care Plan”.
There was no consultation with my mother, and no effort made to contact any member of the family. That evening mum was transferred from an A&E trolley to a Geriatric Ward. Seen by a geriatric doctor soon after she arrived on the ward, mum was immediately removed the Liverpool Care Plan list.
The following morning when we visited, mum was sitting up, tucking into porridge and toast. Mum lived another 3 years after this episode, which was a salutary reminder to us all of how easy it is for a health professional to:
a) Presume they know what’s best;
b) To act independently to the detriment of a patient’s wellbeing, and even life.
No amount of safeguards can protect patients from the court of an individual’s opinion. So-called “assisted suicide” is a human disaster waiting to happen; an outright attack on some of the most vulnerable members of society.”
Brian’s story shows how incredibly easy it is for doctors to get diagnosis and prognoses wrong. Under Leadbeater’s bill, patients only need to find two doctors to agree that they have six months left to live, and doctors who disagree can be replaced.
Story #2: Assisted suicide will warp people’s relationships with dying relatives
Rachel, a retired vet, shared her experience with euthanising many animals during her career.
She warned that legalising assisted suicide will warp people’s relationships with their dying relatives and shift the focus from caring for the terminally ill to relieving the ‘burden’ of financial costs and tolls on their energy and time.
I am a retired small animal vet. I have euthanised many, many animals in my career. Some dearly loved, some not wanted. Sometimes owners would express that it was a shame that humans didn’t have the same right. I disagree.
The decision to euthanise is highly dependent on the owner’s opinion of the quality of life of the animal and the owner’s ability to cope with their declining state of health. For example, one owner may be happy to carry an immobile dog outside for the toilet and clean up accidents, yet another may not be. Neither decision is wrong in the context of a caring owner but is very wrong in a human context.
My concern is that these views will creep into the human decision making. Perhaps even at a subconscious level or in a transfer of ideas and implied value/inconvenience to a sick/elderly/dying person. There is such a danger that people will be influenced against their will.
Let’s say I have an elderly mother with dementia. She is becoming more difficult for me to care for, and her care is becoming costly and draining her lifelong savings (and my inheritance). It’s not a great shift for me to start to think like the owner of the old dog. Do I encourage her to relieve me of my burden and accept assisted dying (as her condition is terminal anyway, it’s just a matter of time)? And will she accept that she is a burden and do the decent thing? After all, the doctor will support her decision to accept euthanasia. Am I really any different to the owner of the old dog?
You may think that extrapolating to humans is far-fetched, but I suggest that once medically assisted dying is allowed it totally changes the patient/doctor/nurse relationship. It crosses a line, and we become part of a culture that may kill, rather than a culture than only cares.
Rachel’s experience highlights how giving people the option of assisted suicide inevitably opens the door to abuse and coercion. Rather than fighting to alleviate suffering, our nation will accept it as inevitable and unconquerable.
Death becomes the solution to the problem of life, and this will affect the mindset of the immediate family carrying the ‘burden’ of care for their terminally ill relatives. Many relatives will resist this temptation but not all. In the Netherlands, 42.9% of doctors have felt pressure from family members of dementia patients to euthanise.
As Rachel warns, legalising assisted suicide will affect our nation’s view on the sanctity and value of life, thus transforming life from a priceless treasure to be protected to a disposable commodity to be terminated as and when convenient.
Story #3: Excellent palliative care – not assisted suicide – is the solution
A palliative care nurse shared how she has walked alongside terminally ill individuals in their final days and hours.
As a former palliative care nurse, I have met countless individuals and their families at what is, for many, the most traumatic and distressing time of their lives. My repeated observation is that for many, the worst thing is the fear of the unknown: ‘who could possibly be able to walk alongside and care at this time?’.
For others they arrive into the care of a community/ hospice/ palliative care team in pain, frightened and feeling unable to go on any more. I have had them beg for help to die as they arrive. I’ve been privileged to work with highly skilled, dedicated and compassionate palliative care teams in supporting such situations.
Time and again the patients and families, after input from the team, will be changed people. There has been listening, understanding, pain relief, discussion of how care will look as they go forward etc. Especially wonderful is the precious time families seem to share together once support has been given.
One of the best, most telling phrases to come from the families is “we had NO IDEA that this sort of care existed or could happen for us. I wish we had asked for help earlier”.
Most of the general public, and MPs are also quite unaware of the care that good palliative teams can offer. They are pushing for assisted suicide in relative ignorance in this respect.
This nurse’s story explains that the trauma of a terminal illness can initially prompt people to beg for death. However, with excellent palliative care, these people frequently change their minds and are given the opportunity – that assisted suicide would deprive them of – to make precious memories before passing away.
Excellent palliative care can – and does – make an immense difference in people’s end-of-life experiences. If inadequate palliative care and limited pain relief is the problem, more funding for palliative care and pain relief research must be the solution rather than simply promoting suicide.
Assisted suicide will only make end-of-life experiences worse
These stories from our supporters highlight the reality that the NHS is broken and already ill-equipped to fight end-of-life abuse.
Adding the option for legally condoned assisted suicide will only increase these problems and further threaten the quality of end-of-life care, the integrity of our healthcare profession, and the dedication to preserve life at its most vulnerable stages.
Families will lose the ability to make priceless final memories and dying individuals risk missing out on hearing of the hope that only Christ can give them as they prepare to enter eternity.
If we legalise assisted suicide, our doctors will become killers, and our healthcare system will become a conduit of systematically assisted death rather than an institution dedicated to the preservation of life.
