A Canadian man with a severe disability has issued a chilling warning about the dangers posed by assisted suicide laws, citing the “terrifying” example of his own country. His message to Scots comes as Scotland considers similar legislation: “I believe my own experience is a cautionary tale of how well-intended laws go very wrong.”
Mr Foley has multiple disabilities, including spinocerebellar ataxia, a neurodegenerative disease. Although he has lived a full and active life, Mr Foley’s condition means that he’s now dependent on others, since he can no longer walk.
Despite receiving some aid from the Canadian healthcare system, Mr Foley has been denied funding to hire at-home assistants. For the past eight years, he has been “trapped” in hospital while “fighting to gain access to home care”.
In an article recounting his battle for adequate care, Mr Foley says that he’s “faced neglect, verbal abuse, and denial of essential care. I’ve been told my care needs are too much work, and my life has been devalued. Worse still, I have been approached and told by healthcare staff to consider opting for Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD).”
There were over 15,000 MAiD deaths in Canada in 2023.
Mr Foley fears that a similar situation will arise in Scotland if MSP Liam McArthur’s assisted suicide bill is passed:
“Based on the vague and ineffective provisions in McArthur’s Bill, I fear that the solicitation, coercion, and pressure I’ve faced to undergo an assisted death in Canada would be seen under a Scottish law…
“No ‘safeguard’ could rule out people feeling internal pressure to end their lives or pressure from the outside, because they can’t get support.”
He is also “concerned that the definition of terminal illness in Mr McArthur’s Bill… could be broadly interpreted”.
We cannot allow this “madness” into the UK, says SPUC
Daniel Frampton, SPUC’s Editorial Officer, said: “Mr Foley’s chilling account of being offered assisted suicide by a neglectful healthcare system is a warning to the whole UK, now threatened by similar legislation.
“The idea that assisted suicide can ever be safe is a dangerous illusion that is contrary to the facts, as exposed in Canada and elsewhere. The numerous horror stories we have seen cannot be ignored by responsible governments and politicians.
“While assisted suicide is (by definition) dangerous, to impose it on an already stretched healthcare system would be an act of madness – it’s a disaster waiting to happen. Canadians, including soldiers with PTSD, have been recommended MAiD in recent years, a clear warning sign of what will likely occur in the UK if such laws are enacted.
“Rather than killing vulnerable people, governments should be doing all they can to protect and care for patients, not force them into making a terrible and needless choice, which is no choice at all.”
Assisted suicide bills threaten UK
The Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill, introduced by Liam McArthur MSP, is currently being considered at Stage 1 following a call for views (now closed). A debate and first vote on the Bill by MSPs will take place later this year.
A similar bill for England and Wales proposed by Kim Leadbeater passed its first vote last year, moving forward to Committee stage. At the hearing, disability expert Dr Miro Griffiths slammed the “nonsensical” assisted suicide bill that he said “coalesces with the systemic injustices faced by the disabled people’s communities in the UK…
“There are some deep concerns around issues of coercion that are not satisfied within the Bill… [about] how it will affect the relationship between medical practitioners and disabled people’s communities.”
This month, Leadbeater announced that she intended to scrap her proposed safeguard of having a High Court judge sign off on assisted suicide cases. Instead, a panel of “experts” will take charge. SPUC slammed Leadbeater’s “shameless U-turn” , warning that her expert panel would likely be a “rigged jury that is no safeguard at all against pro-death believers”.
