Alarm beings are ringing for vulnerable patients following a request by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock, for data on the possible consequences of the legal ban on euthanasia/assisted suicide.
Addressing the pro-assisted suicide group, the All Party Parliamentary Group on Choice at the End of Life, Hancock stressed importance of evidence-based debate on assisted dying.
Pro-suicide groups, including Dignity in Dying, have welcomed Hancock’s request.
Last year, SPUC slammed a statement by the Health Secretary that travelling abroad for assisted suicide is an exception to coronavirus travel restrictions. In response to an urgent question by Andrew Mitchell MP, the Health Secretary told MPs: “Travelling abroad for the purpose of assisted dying is a reasonable excuse and so anyone doing so would not be breaking the law.”
SPUC comment
A SPUC spokesperson said: “Matt Hancock’s latest move on assisted suicide is extremely worrying. It is already evident that changes in medical guidelines and in law (The Mental Capacity Act 2005), mean that patients in England and Wales may be at risk from decisions to stop giving them food and fluids or to stop giving them medical and nursing care.
“Matt Hancock’s call for a debate on assisted suicide will ring the alarm bells for vulnerable patients and their loved ones.
“Human life deserves protection and care. Assisted suicide/euthanasia is a lethally false form of compassion which implies some lives are worth less than other lives.”
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