Last week saw the first reading of the Assisted Dying Bill, a Bill which is being presented to parliament the Bill sets the scene for a change the law in England and Wales.
With this in mind, I thought I would reflect and share some of my understanding of where we are at and next steps. Understanding how laws are passed and amended is fascinatingly complex and a long drawn out process.
I feel like this debate has gone on for infinitum, at least for the last 20 plus years, in fact I can’t remember a time it wasn't being debated either in a staff room on a ward, with families at a hospice and with patients in their own home in my capacity of nursing the person and supporting their family and our staff. However, there is now a need for a wider, national, honest and frank debate to take place.
Generally societal thinking and views remain as broad ever, but one event that seems to indicate a shift in opinion was the survey of membership by the Royal College of Physicians last year, the results moving the college from a position of not supporting assisted dying to a neutral position.
The bill has been previously considered and rejected by parliament on numerous occasions. The current law on assisted suicide was challenged at the Supreme Court in 2014 with several claimants saying that the law was incompatible with their right to a private life under article 8 of the Human Rights Act (2010). The Supreme court took the view that parliament should be the place where this is debated rather than the courts. It really is such a divisive and emotionally charged debate that up until this present day there continues to be little ability to come up with a common understanding and goal. Being extensively debated both in the political and healthcare arenas, opinions are often divided for a multitude of reasons, including issues around the sanctity of life on one side of the argument and the right to choose life or death for oneself on the other.
The Suicide Act 1961 and the Criminal Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 1966 make it an offence to encourage or assist the suicide of another person ( Wales, England and Northern Ireland), therefore anyone assisting in this process may be prosecuted under current legislation.
Even in Scotland, where there is no specific prohibition of assisting a suicide in Scottish law, this is further caveatted by the sentence that “anyone doing so could be charged with murder or culpable homicide” provides a dichotomy for people on either side of the argument.
Death and dying is often spoke of as “suffering” “being in pain” in my experience this is not always the case but neither can I say it is never the case. Each experience is individual to the person and their loved ones alongside them.
It is often suggested that if people who have incurable disease want to die when they choose, they have the option of attending countries where the act of assisting someone to die is not deemed illegal. It is estimated that over 400 people have travelled to Dignatas in Switzerland over the past 20 years, however this option is not accessible or affordable to all, neither is it as people often perceive a visit to snow clad mountains where the end of your life will happen in beautiful surroundings. Indeed, Dignatas is on an industrial estate not unlike any other either here or anywhere else in the developed world.
Current cost of attending Dignatas is approximately £10,000. and it is thought that over 800 people in this country are on the waiting list. Therefore, it is not an option open to everyone equally and your ability to choose it based on your ability to self-fund.
Personally, I do not have a view, I do not know if this is right or wrong, neither would I profess to know what is right for another human being in their certain set of circumstances.
The next step of this process is a second reading, date to be set. It is at this point previously that the Bill has been rejected, as it’s at this second hearing that parliamentarians will debate and decide if the bill can progress. I find the whole process interesting and have added in this diagram to explain just in case you are interested too.
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