The more informed the British public is about assisted suicide the more it fears its results, says SPUC, which has highlighted a new poll by the think tank Living and Dying Well (LDW). Of particular concern to those polled was the anticipated shift in the doctor-patient relationship if assisted suicide is legalised. 

Whitestone Insight polled over 2,000 British adults in June 2024 on behalf of LDW to get a representative view of the public’s opinion on proposed assisted suicide legislation, to be considered by the House of Lords this year.

While there was support for assisted suicide “in principle”, many of those polled changed their minds when confronted with the facts, including the example of Canada where over 15,000 people were killed by state-sanctioned assisted suicide in 2023.

Significantly, 60% of those polled believed that assisted suicide would fundamentally change the relationship between doctor and patient, and 43% feared that, because of the financial burden on the NHS and Social Care budget, health professionals would be incentivised to convince patients to take their own lives.

Earlier this year, SPUC reported on a study, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, which suggested that assisted suicide would save Canada’s health system up to $136.8 million a year.

Similarly, a Belgian health insurance boss championed assisted suicide because he believes it saves taxpayer money and frees up spaces in hospitals and care homes.

SPUC comment

A SPUC spokesperson said: “The fear that health systems already under financial strain cannot be trusted to implement assisted suicide safely is justified given what we’ve already seen in Canada and elsewhere.

“Patients in Canada have already turned to assisted suicide in despair after failing to receive timely cancer treatment, and one man opted for death because the waiting list for social housing was too long.

“Assisted suicide fast becomes the default solution, not only for illness, but also for mental illness, poverty, waiting lists and, inevitably, governmental budgets. Vulnerable people are easy targets for such cost-cutting, and the British public knows this. The warning signs are there.”

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