{"id":8001,"date":"2015-09-11T19:26:51","date_gmt":"2015-09-11T18:26:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/?p=8001"},"modified":"2015-09-11T19:26:51","modified_gmt":"2015-09-11T18:26:51","slug":"assisted-suicide%ef%bb%bf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/?p=8001","title":{"rendered":"Assisted Suicide\ufeff"},"content":{"rendered":"

Assisted Suicide<\/strong><\/p>\n

Assisted Suicide<\/strong> – Statement for the Catholic Press from Archbishop Smith.\u00a0<\/strong>Very many people of all faiths and none will be concerned about a Bill to legalise Assisted Suicide in England and Wales which will be debated in the House of Commons on 11th<\/sup> September 2015.\u00a0 This private members Bill, introduced by Rob Marris MP, will have a free vote and it is important that people make their views known to their own MP ahead of this extremely important debate. I strongly urge all Catholics to contact their own MP as soon as possible to express their concern about the dangerous impact which such a Bill would have on the most vulnerable people. MPs do listen to their own constituents. What is needed is more and better palliative care, not assistance with suicide.
\n+Archbishop Peter Smith\u00a0Chair\u00a0Department of Christian responsibility and Citizenship\u00a07th<\/sup> July 2015<\/p>\n

Please write to our MP Lindsay Hoyle MP, House of Commons, London, SW1A OAA asking him to vote against the bill: Draft letter at foot of page if wanted<\/p>\n

What will the Bill do?\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>The Assisted Dying (No. 2) Bill is a Private Member\u2019s Bill sponsored by Rob Marris MP.\u00a0\u00a0 It would \u2018enable competent adults who are terminally ill to choose to be provided with medically supervised assistance to end their own life\u2019. That means it would licence doctors to supply lethal drugs to terminally ill patients to enable them to commit suicide.
\nWhat’s the law on this now?\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Suicide was decriminalised in British law in 1961 because it was recognised that people attempting to commit suicide needed care, support and often medical treatment because of depression, rather than a criminal conviction. The serious tragedy of suicide meant that it remained against the law to \u2018encourage or assist\u2019 another person\u2019s suicide<\/a> or attempted suicide.\u00a0In 2010 the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) issued guidance about the factors that are taken into account in deciding whether to prosecute this offence.\u00a0 For example, prosecution is more likely if there is evidence of pressure having been brought to bear, or the assister had stood to gain from the suicide, or there was a duty of care for the person concerned. It is less likely if the assistance was given reluctantly and was \u2018wholly motivated by compassion\u2019.\u00a0 The law, which protects vulnerable people, is able to deter assisting suicide and, if necessary to deal with malicious assistance with suicide, while also having discretion not to press charges in tragic cases.
\nWhy shouldn’t it be legal to assist suicide if the person wishing to die is old or disabled or ill?\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Every person\u2019s life is equally worthy of respect and protection.\u00a0 Even if someone loses sight of the dignity and value of their life (whether through pain, suffering or loneliness), they remain valuable in themselves and a member of the human family. They deserve care, support and sometimes medical treatment for depression, not assistance with suicide.\u00a0 Neither the criminal law nor the DPP guidance distinguishes between suicide of young people who are physically-well and of someone who is old, disabled or ill.\u00a0 Indeed, as a society we rightly go to great lengths to prevent each and every suicide.\u00a0 In the words of the World Health Organisation, \u2018every single life lost to suicide is one too many\u2019.
\nHow can we stand by while people die in pain?\u00a0 Don\u2019t we have a duty to do something?\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>We do have a duty to do something.\u00a0 The United Kingdom was a pioneer in the hospice movement and the development of palliative care but most people do not have access to a hospice. There is need for more resources to support improved palliative and end of life care. Most hospitals focus on curing people and sometimes \u2018could do better\u2019 when it comes to care of the dying. Over 95% of pain can be controlled with specialist help and as a last resort a person could at least be comfortably sedated.
\nWhat does the Church say about the value and dignity of dying people?\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>In a\u00a0message addressed to Catholics in Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales<\/a>, Pope Francis said, \u2018Even the weakest and most vulnerable, the sick, the old, the unborn and the poor, are masterpieces of God\u2019s creation, made in his own image, destined to live for ever, and deserving of the utmost reverence and respect\u2019.\u00a0 The Church teaches that life is a gift from God and supports high quality care for the dying and protection for the weak and vulnerable.
\nWhat does the medical profession have to say about physician assisted suicide?\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>The British Medical Association, and the Medical Royal Colleges are strongly opposed to legalising physician\u2013assisted suicide.\u00a0 A key principle of professional medical ethics, reflected in the criminal law, is that doctors should never intentionally shorten life.\u00a0 This principle, which dates from the ancient, pre-Christian, Hippocratic Oath, can be found today in the General Medical Council\u2019s statement about the duties of a doctor, and in the World Medical Association\u2019s Declaration of Geneva: doctors must show \u2018the utmost respect for human life\u2019.
\nNeed life be preserved at all costs?\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Doctors may withdraw futile or burdensome treatments, or respect a patient\u2019s refusal of treatment, or give much needed palliative treatment even if they foresee that, as an unintended side-effect, death may come sooner.\u00a0 In fact palliative drugs, properly administered, do not generally hasten death.\u00a0 Palliative care focuses not on cure but on care and \u2018intends neither to hasten nor to postpone death\u2019.\u00a0 It is no part of medicine to kill or to assist suicide but nor does it require doctors to preserve life at all costs.
\nWouldn’t there be safeguards in any legalised system?\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Once you concede a principle and cross a line in ethics and law, it is wishful thinking to imagine that bad consequences can be averted merely by qualifications, conditions, or procedures.\u00a0 In the small number of jurisdictions where assisted suicide has been legalised or where it is not prosecuted under certain conditions (Holland, and a handful of states in the USA) there is ample evidence that the safeguards don’t work.\u00a0 For instance, some laws seek to restrict access to assisted suicide to terminally ill people with a specific prognosis.\u00a0 But prognosis of terminal illness is fraught with difficulty: terminally ill people often live for much longer than the predictions they are given when they are diagnosed – occasionally they even recover.\u00a0 Furthermore doctors often fail to spot clinical depression in people who would meet the legal requirements for assisted suicide.\u00a0 Each year the numbers dying by assisted suicide increase and the \u2018safeguards\u2019 are taken less and less seriously.\u00a0 For more information on this see the website of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre (www.bioethics.org.uk).
\nWhat should I do if I am concerned about the dangers of assisted suicide?\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>If you are concerned about how legalising assisted suicide will put vulnerable people at risk, affect palliative care or encourage suicide please contact your local MP before the assisted Dying Bill is debated in the House of Commons on 11th<\/sup> September 2015.\u00a0 If you have personal experiences to share with them please do. MPs listen to their constituents and will want to hear about your concerns. You can send an e-mail to your MP via the Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference website www.catholicnews.org.uk\/assisted-suicide\u00a0<\/strong>This is a crucial opportunity to make your voice heard.<\/strong><\/p>\n