An English Anglican priest has written an open letter to his elderly mother who is considering assisted suicide to explain why “I don’t want to live in that sort of a society”. When a nation opens that “Pandora’s box of nastiness”, Reverend Giles Fraser warns, “it is the most vulnerable in our society who will be most at threat… One day, that vulnerable person might be you.”
“You want me to take you to Dignitas when the time comes… You are my Mum, I love you, and I will do as you ask… even though I don’t agree with it”, writes Rev Fraser.
In his letter to his mother, 86, published on the Daily Mail website, Rev Fraser explains to her that assisted suicide, if it is legalised in the UK, will open “a Pandora’s box of nastiness” that will threaten society’s most vulnerable people.
Rev Fraser recalls how, many years ago, he was suicidal and was finally talked out of it by his friends. “I didn’t really expect them to say: ‘OK then, it’s your choice.’ I think it was their duty to try and talk me out of it. And they did – thank goodness. I want to try and do the same for you.”
“The most frightening” scenario for Rev Fraser, however, is the potential “cost-benefit analysis” aspect of assisted suicide, in which the treatment of patients “is constantly being assessed for value for money”. In the end, they might be pressured into death because it is the cheaper option.
“And looking at the astronomical price of care homes,” he adds, “there will be some who will think it would be better to spend the price of Granny's end-of-life care on their children, for instance. Or worse, a new car.”
Ultimately, Rev Fraser tells his mother, “I want you to be a burden. I want to care for you, whatever the circumstances. That is what it means to say: ‘I love you.’”
“A fundamental threat to the vulnerable”
Daniel Frampton, SPUC’s Editorial Officer, said: “In the unthinking rush to legalise assisted suicide, societies have forgotten those people who have the most to lose from such laws.
“Rev Fraser is a welcome exception, and his concerns have merit. While he is a compassionate and loyal son, he cannot see past the inherent danger in enabling the view that some lives aren’t worth living.
“As we have seen already in such countries as Canada, once assisted suicide is legalised, the slide towards death as a solution to the challenges of care leads to more and more deaths, as well as the tragic assumption that one SHOULD choose to die rather than be a burden on loved ones and the state.
“This twisting of values poses a fundamental threat to the vulnerable, which includes the elderly, the disabled, the mentally ill, and even the poor. It is up to society to protect such individuals rather than usher them into an early grave.”
“Heartless utilitarianism” of assisted suicide
Last week, SPUC slammed the “heartless utilitarianism” of a study stating that assisted suicide will save the Canadian health care system up to $136.8 million a year.
“As death approaches,” the study stated, “health care costs increase dramatically in the final months. Patients who choose medical assistance in dying may forgo this resource-intensive period”.
A Canadian cancer patient was recently granted assisted suicide within two days after waiting weeks in vain for chemotherapy, as reported by SPUC.
His widow later stated: “I think I could still have my Dan if he had gotten treatment sooner. If we had more money, we could have gone to the States. But we’re just regular people.”
There were 13,241 state-sanctioned assisted suicides in Canada in 2002. Following several potentially wrongful suicides, an official memo warned doctors to respect the limits of the current law after the province of Quebec saw a 54% increase.