Articles in Euthanasia & Assisted Dying

Articles in Euthanasia & Assisted Dying

A hypodermic needle and syringe seen against a black shadowy background

Assisted Suicide: Government May Be Underestimating Deaths By Nearly 400%

Ben Clark

BuDS’ calculations suggest that the Government’s official Impact Assessment for Lauren Edwards’ Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill may be underestimating the number of medically assisted suicides by nearly 400%. Another way of saying this is that we think the Government’s estimate is almost 4 times smaller than it should be.

To put this in terms of numbers, the Government estimate that around 6,257 people per year will die by assisted suicide once the Bill comes fully into force. Our estimate is that 21,600 people could die by assisted suicide every year.

This really matters. MPs must know that, if they vote for Lauren Edwards’ Bill, they likely are putting in place a massive institutionalised system for the assisted suicide of tens of thousands of British people. This is a completely different situation to that suggested by lobbyists and pro-suicide apologists, who persistently claim that only a few hundred people who are already very close to death will be affected by the Bill.

We urge everyone who opposes this Bill to share our data and calculations with their MP. MPs must know exactly what they are doing if they vote for this Bill.

Read More
A blue graphic image. On the left is a circle containing a picture of the Palace of Westminster with a Union Flag flying outside it. On the right is a graphic of a letter emerging from an envelope. On the letter is printed: “Dear MP, please don’t re-introduce another assisted dying Bill into Parliament. Signed, Disabled People. The BuDS logo is shown on the letter. On the envelope is written: “Read the full letter on our website – www.buds.org.uk”.

Open Letter to Members of Parliament

admin

Dear Members of Parliament

Please don’t re-introduce an assisted dying Bill into Parliament. As disabled people from across England, including many with degenerative and terminal conditions, we urge you to address this highly complex and controversial issue in a mature and measured way. Rushing ahead with badly-drafted and dangerous Bills is not the way to help disabled and dying people.

Read More
A group of disabled people protesting outside the Houses of Parliament against the Assisted Dying Bill

BuDS Welcomes Failure of Assisted Suicide Bill

admin

BuDS Disability Service has welcomed the Parliamentary failure of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill today, Friday 24 April. This Bill is commonly known as the Assisted Dying or Assisted Suicide Bill. This failure at Westminster marked the defeat of all the Suicide Bills attempted to be rushed through British parliaments by lobbyists in the last two years.

Welcoming the Parliamentary failure, BuDS said:

“The failure of the Bill is good news for dying people, for the NHS and for Britain. We say this for two main reasons:

  1. This Bill would have done nothing to address the humanitarian concerns that many people have about end-of-life care. It was a lobbyist Bill designed to introduce suicide on demand for NHS patients, something which no political party or politician had ever even mentioned before this Bill was introduced.
  2. The Bill was dangerous because it did not protect the basic human rights of British people. This was said from the start by disability and human rights groups like BuDS but was dramatically proven when the Lord Chancellor had to prevent a similar Bill, in the Isle of Man Parliament, from becoming law on these exact grounds”.

Much has been said about how this Bill has been ‘blocked’ by unscrupulous Parliamentary tactics, especially by ‘unelected Lords’. The reality is rather different. This Bill was not Government legislation, but a Private Members Bill (PMB). PMBs cannot be used to make complex and controversial legal reforms because they do not have enough Parliamentary time, even in the best of circumstances, to make such broad changes. The Terminally Ill Adults Bill was doomed to fail from the start by the incompetence of its sponsors and multimillionaire lobbyist backers, not by any Parliamentary blocking.

The passage of this Bill through Parliament has proved that the welfare of dying people and the protection of vulnerable people cannot be left to opaquely-funded, multimillionaire lobbying groups, especially those ideologically committed to suicide and euthanasia. A properly informed national conversation about end-of-life care and assisted suicide must happen before there is any future attempt at legislation. A Royal Commission or similar independent official body must now look at all the issues, consult widely, gather objective evidence and make recommendations. BuDS and other disabled-led organisations are ready to play their part in that conversation.  

Screenshot from the BBC News website showing the headline "Assisted dying bill will not now become law, say both sides" over a picture of both pro- and anti-assisted dying demonstrators.

Assisted Suicide Bill In Westminster Falls

Ben Clark

More great news, as the Assisted Suicide Bill in the Westminster Parliament also falls, joining the Scottish Bill which was voted down last week.

The multimillionaire lobbyists behind these Bills are spreading an untrue story that the Westminster Bill failed because it was ‘talked out’ by opponents in the House of Lords. This story is objectively untrue for the following reasons.

Read More
The Palace of Westminster seen from Westminster Bridge against a blue evening sky. In the foreground are coloured motion blurs of moving traffic

BuDS’ View On Using The Parliament Act To Salvage The Assisted Suicide Bill

Ben Clark

BuDS roundly condemns the unprecedented and extraordinary threat to use the Parliament Act to bypass the House of Lords and force the Assisted Dying/Suicide Bill through Parliament. Such important legislation must not be railroaded in this way. We call on Kim Leadbeater MP and Lord Falconer, the sponsors of this Bill, to abandon this outrageous and unworkable idea.

BuDS also condemns the underhand methods used to bring this Bill before Parliament and prevent a proper national debate about the difficult and sensitive issue of assisted dying/suicide.

We call on politicians of all parties to recognise this Bill has reached the end of its life, and to step back so that a careful and well-informed national conversation about assisted dying/suicide can take place in the future.

Read More
The Palace of Westminster and Portcullis House (MPs offices) seen from across the River Thames, silhouetted against a stormy sky.

Find Your MP

Ben Clark

We encourage disabled people and their families/carers to keep in touch with their local constituency MP. There are many key issues affecting disabled people at the minute, such as the proposed benefit cuts, the changes to the NHS and social care, and, of course, the Assisted Dying Bill currently going through Parliament. It is really important that constituency MPs know how disabled people feel about these changes. Disabled people make up about a fifth of all voters in the UK, so our opinions matter.

The table below gives you the names, constituencies, and websites of MPs in and around Buckinghamshire. The button below the table will take you to the Parliament website, where you can find details of your MP if they are not listed.

If you would like any help contacting your MP, or would like BuDS to get involved in anything that matters to you, please use the contact form at the end of this page.

Read More