Assist Us To Live

Merry Cross writes:

Some might assume that disabled people would be breathing a sigh of relief at the thought of MPs backing the ‘assisted dying bill’ on 29 November, or conversely that it has nothing to do with us. Neither is true.

I was born with a significant impairment which means, among other things, that I have known pain and injuries all my life. I, like most disabled people, have enormous compassion for those whose lives end in serious pain.

It needn’t be like this. Like many other disabled people, I believe money and effort should be put into assisting us to live with dignity before it is spent on our deaths.

For many years now, we have seen cut after cut to our benefits and, even more seriously, reductions in the number of people the Department of Work and Pensions deems entitled to support. The savagery of these austerity policies has resulted in hundreds of deaths, as John Pring, the editor and founder of the Disability News Service, writes in his new book, The Department: How a Violent Government Bureaucracy Killed Hundreds and Hid the Evidence.

On top of this, finding the carers we need has become almost impossible due to a combination of pitiful pay in the sector and the loss of European staff after Brexit. This affects our families, who have to fill the gaps, often giving up jobs to do so, and damages our self-esteem, our mental and physical health and our ability to have control of our lives.

The impact of all this is that both disabled people and our families become more likely to see ourselves as burdens. Some of us may feel that we might want out, via assisted suicide/dying. / And while the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill currently going through Parliament in theory prohibits coercion, it can’t stop this from taking place behind closed doors within the family, if not by doctors. We Disabled people haven’t forgotten how during the pandemic, disability rights charities reported doctors issuing an “unprecedented” number of ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ orders to people with learning difficulties, without any consultation with the patient or family.

Yet MPs will only have five hours to debate the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which is 38 pages long and has 43 clauses and 6 schedules. It is not enough when lives are at stake.

The bill, which was introduced by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, says that only those who are terminally ill and expected to die within the next six months should be given assistance to end their lives. But this relies on doctors accurately predicting the length of time a patient will live – something they fail to do in half of cases, according to data analysis by Paddy Stone, emeritus professor of palliative and end of life care at University College London, which was published by The Telegraph.

Nicki Myers, a disabled woman who lives in Cambridge, has first-hand experience of doctors wrongly predicting when she would die. “I’ve been a Disabled person for my entire life but I was diagnosed with a terminal condition in 2017. I have almost died so many times and then I’ve rallied. I did not expect to still be alive now,” she told Disabled People Against Cuts, the campaign group that I am a member of.

Myers continued: “I’ve been able to support my children and grandchildren, paint portraits from my bed, spend time with friends. My view on assisted suicide has never wavered, despite some very difficult times.

“In the UK, we do not have sufficient health and social care support or adequate palliative care or hospice services for legalisation to be safe. I have been reassured by the doctor at my hospice about my last days. Everyone should be able to access services to give them a good death.”

It is hugely significant that in a 2019 consultation of Royal College of Physicians members, 84% of palliative medicine doctors – who surely understand the delicate issues involved more than most – said they did not support a law change to legalise assisted dying and would not participate in assisted dying if it were legalised.

Politicians should not just listen to their expertise, but look at the situation in other countries that have legalised assisted suicide/dying. Anyone who has watched actress and comedian Liz Carr’s BBC documentary, Better Off Dead?, which aired in May, will know that in Canada, assisted suicide has become a horrifying solution to the socioeconomic barriers that ill and Disabled people experience, even homelessness.

In other countries, too, bills that initially included strict conditions on the circumstances in which assisted dying/suicide can take place have seen the criteria quickly expanded to allow for more deaths after becoming law.

Leadbeater’s assisted dying bill states that the government must ensure that assisted suicide is available to those who meet the criteria – but there is no such duty or funding for providing palliative or the social care that would allow us to live independent lives.

This is a very dangerous time for us. When the standard of living drops as low as it has for so many people, with costs rising constantly, disabled people are rapidly cast as financial burdens on society and as being of less value than others. This is why Disabled People Against Cuts is urging the government to not help us die, but #AssistUsToLive.