Impact on the NHS

The NHS is broken. Our amazing social care and palliative care system is under too much strain already.

How can we expect it to cope with the enormous pressure that implementing this law would add?

The NHS is supposed to be cradle to grave, not cradle ’til we’re too old, expensive and inconvenient.

Saving money should never be a reason to kill old or vulnerable people. But cutting costs would be an inevitable incentive for bureaucrats.

Assisting suicide has the capacity to corrupt the NHS by creating an incentive for health professionals to encourage some patients to end their lives early.

At the same time, there would be a perverse incentive to not restrain assisted suicide since it is cheaper to have people end their lives rather than to provide palliative or social care.

Right wing commentators are already writing that “We can’t afford a taboo on assisted dying.”

Matthew Parris wrote that the fact that pressure will grow on the terminally ill to hasten their own deaths is not a bad thing.

As happens in Canada, some doctors would come to see assisted suicide as a first line treatment for specific illnesses and not pursue other forms of treatment for a range of conditions.

ALLISON DUCLUZEAU

In November 2022, Allison was diagnosed with Stage 4 abdominal cancer and given two months to live. She was told it was inoperable, and she should go home, sort out her affairs and decide if she wanted medical assistance in dying.

Unable to get treatment in Canada, she raised money and sold her house to fund private treatment in Maryland USA which was successful. Today, Allison is in remission.

“I would tell Britain to only accept assisted dying when the health service is fixed— otherwise it is a very dangerous step to take. We deserve decent and timely care rather than offers of faster death.”

ALLISON DUCLUZEAU

Legalising assisted suicide completely changes the doctor patient relationship.

Some patients will only want to see a doctor who will not end their lives.

Some communities will become more reluctant to access healthcare.

How might this also impact the treatment for other non-terminal illness?

Millions of patients are not getting the care they deserve. Legalising assisted suicide will draw in those people whose conditions become terminal because they do not receive the care they should have.

This issue is too important to rush through now without considering all the consequences.

Legalising assisted suicide will have enormous consequences for our society. Significant societal change should not be decided when we have not been able to examine all the problems and then explore all the solutions.

Only 4% of the public think legalising assisted suicide should be a priority for politicians.

69% of the Scottish public think the priority for politicians should be to reduce NHS waiting lists.

Surely the priority of the NHS must be to care and ease suffering?

Let’s champion social and palliative care and make fixing it a priority.

Read Next :

The NHS is broken. Our amazing social care and palliative care system is under too much strain already.

How can we expect it to cope with the enormous pressure that implementing this law would add?

The NHS is supposed to be cradle to grave, not cradle ’til we’re too old, expensive and inconvenient.

Saving money should never be a reason to kill old or vulnerable people. But cutting costs would be an inevitable incentive for bureaucrats.

Assisting suicide has the capacity to corrupt the NHS by creating an incentive for health professionals to encourage some patients to end their lives early.

At the same time, there would be a perverse incentive to not restrain assisted suicide since it is cheaper to have people end their lives rather than to provide palliative or social care.

Right wing commentators are already writing that “We can’t afford a taboo on assisted dying.”

Matthew Parris wrote that the fact that pressure will grow on the terminally ill to hasten their own deaths is not a bad thing.

As happens in Canada, some doctors would come to see assisted suicide as a first line treatment for specific illnesses and not pursue other forms of treatment for a range of conditions.

In November 2022, Allison was diagnosed with Stage 4 abdominal cancer and given two months to live. She was told it was inoperable, and she should go home, sort out her affairs and decide if she wanted medical assistance in dying.

Unable to get treatment in Canada, she raised money and sold her house to fund private treatment in Maryland USA which was successful. Today, Allison is in remission.

Legalising assisted suicide completely changes the doctor patient relationship.

Some patients will only want to see a doctor who will not end their lives.

Some communities will become more reluctant to access healthcare.

How might this also impact the treatment for other non-terminal illness?

Millions of patients are not getting the care they deserve. Legalising assisted suicide will draw in those people whose conditions become terminal because they do not receive the care they should have.

This issue is too important to rush through now without considering all the consequences.

Legalising assisted suicide will have enormous consequences for our society. Significant societal change should not be decided when we have not been able to examine all the problems and then explore all the solutions.

Only 4% of the public think legalising assisted suicide should be a priority for politicians.

69% of the Scottish public think the priority for politicians should be to reduce NHS waiting lists.

Surely the priority of the NHS must be to care and ease suffering?

Let’s champion social and palliative care and make fixing it a priority.

Read Next :

Promoting Care, Opposing Euthanasia

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