Once again, disabled and terminally ill people are being put at risk due to proposals to legalise assisted dying.
Assisted dying lobbyists are campaigning to persuade MPs near the top of the Private Members’ Bill ballot to bring back Kim Leadbeater’s assisted dying Bill.
As a national, grassroots disability rights group opposed to the legalisation of assisted dying and euthanasia as deadly forms of disability discrimination, we have been campaigning hard against Kim Leadbeater’s Bill since its inception.
Kim Leadbeater’s Bill is not only unworkable, it is dangerous for people in vulnerable situations - including disabled people.
If the Parliament Acts were to be used to circumvent the House of Lords, as is the stated plan of campaigners seeking to persuade an MP to bring back the Bill, the Bill could not be amended, so all the concerns raised by groups such as Not Dead Yet UK could not be addressed.
The cost of this Bill passing as it currently stands will be paid by disabled people and others at greater risk of pressure and harm, and by a cultural shift that places greater value on some lives than others. We cannot allow this to happen.
For disabled people, this Bill is an existential threat, for at least the following reasons:
- Coercion - this danger is significant and cannot be adequately addressed by proposed safeguards; it simply cannot always be detected. At-risk groups (e.g. people who are elderly, disabled or financially disadvantaged) may feel pressured to choose death to avoid burdening families, as has happened overseas.
- Safeguards - they won’t work in practice. The legislation is weighted towards promoting eligibility rather than preventing risk.
- Slippery slope - other jurisdictions have seen widening of access and removal of safeguards. There are insufficient checks and balances to be sure expansion won’t happen here, too.
- Palliative care - resources for assisted dying could undermine already underfunded hospice care. Hospices are already warning of a “funding crisis”. The Association for Palliative Medicine warns that palliative care must be prioritised first.
All MPs need to understand that disabled people are terrified of this Bill being brought back. We already have to fight far too hard to be able to live dignified and independent lives. Legalising assisted dying through this Bill, which threatens our autonomy and our options, will make that harder still.
It comes down to the sort of country and culture we want to live in. We can’t settle for less, which is what Kim Leadbeater’s Bill asks MPs to do. It asks MPs to address the challenge of how we care for and support people who are in situations where they need greater protection and support - including disabled people - by giving them a way out through assisted dying, instead of a way up through investment in excellent palliative and social care.
When you enter your postcode, you will then be asked to provide your details, and you will see a draft email that you can make changes to before sending it to your MP. When you hit send, this email will be sent to your MP along with a physical postcard to their Parliament address (you can see what that postcard looks like here) - both will include the contact details you have provided, so it is clear to your MP that the message has come from a real local constituent.
Disabled people and others at greater risk of pressure or harm need the support to live, not a law that exposes them to greater danger. This Bill does the opposite - it facilitates premature death and puts people at risk.
We must stop this dangerous Bill from returning. Take action today - your message could make all the difference.
The text reads:
I am writing to you as a resident of [your constituency] and as a supporter of Not Dead Yet UK, a grassroots disability rights group.
I am contacting you following the recent MP Private Members’ Bill ballot, as I have been alarmed by reports that assisted dying lobbyists are campaigning to persuade MPs near the top of the ballot to bring back Kim Leadbeater’s assisted dying Bill. I am very concerned about this and would be very grateful if you would reply to reassure me that you will listen to the voices of disabled people and not support the return of this Bill.
As Baroness Grey-Thompson made clear at a House of Lords Select Committee hearing last autumn about the assisted dying Bill, “there is no organisation of or for disabled people that supports this legislation”. She described the Bill as “a danger to disabled people”, a view widely shared by the disability community.
I find it extraordinary that MPs would consider bringing back a bill that is so widely opposed by not only disabled people but also countless medical Royal Colleges, including the Royal College of Psychiatrists, professional bodies and other groups representing vulnerable people, including people with learning disabilities.
Polling published since the assisted dying Bill was first introduced has shown how wide the public’s concerns are about the assisted dying Bill that was introduced in the last parliamentary session, including in relation to its existential threat to disabled people.
These concerns remain significant because if the Parliament Acts were to be used to circumvent the House of Lords, as is the stated plan of campaigners seeking to persuade an MP to bring back the Bill, the Bill could not be amended, so all the concerns raised by groups such as Not Dead Yet UK could not be addressed.
This is particularly worrying because the House of Lords had not finished its work on the Bill when it fell. Peers were still considering serious concerns about whether disabled people would be safe under the Bill, including the risk that people could come under pressure or feel they had no real choice because they could not get the care and support they needed. These are not minor issues. They go to the heart of whether an assisted dying law would put disabled people at risk.
When MPs voted on the Bill, this further scrutiny in the House of Lords had not yet been completed. MPs who supported the Bill on the understanding that concerns would continue to be examined and safeguards could be improved should be deeply troubled by an attempt to bring back essentially the same Bill before that work has been done. Disabled people should not be expected to accept a Bill while serious concerns about their safety remain unresolved.
In relation to its impact on disabled people, a poll commissioned by Not Dead Yet UK of over 2,000 adults last summer showed the following:
- Two in three people (67%, including 72% of disabled people) agree that the UK Parliament should prioritise improving access to care for disabled people before introducing assisted dying (only 13% disagree).
- 63% of the public and 67% of disabled people agree that some disabled people may feel a sense of responsibility to access an assisted death if they feel they are a burden on family, friends or society (only 16% disagree).
- 60% of the public agree that some disabled people could be coerced into assisted dying by others who do not have their best interests at heart. 64% of disabled people share this concern.
- 57% agree that disabled people who struggle to access the support they need, given the current state of the NHS and social care funding, may be more likely to seek assisted dying instead (only 17% disagree). This rises to over 6 in 10 (63%) for people who are disabled.
- 59% agree that if disabled people are living in poverty, and benefits are being cut, they may be likely to seek assisted dying instead of struggling financially (again, only 17% disagree). This rises to 65% for people who are disabled.
In Canada, which first legalised assisted dying in 2016 under a law similar to the one proposed here (restricted to those whose deaths were reasonably foreseeable), disabled people have increasingly been put at risk under the country’s assisted dying law, with Paralympians and disabled veterans among those who have been offered an assisted death proactively without requesting it; one woman was offered an assisted death when she requested a stairlift.
Roger Foley has written powerfully in the Herald of his experience as a disabled man living in Canada: “As Canada has expanded its assisted dying law, I have faced neglect, verbal abuse, and denial of essential care. I’ve been told my care needs are too much work, and my life has been devalued. Worse still, I have been approached and told by healthcare staff to consider opting for Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD). Instead of offering compassionate support to alleviate my suffering, it is suggested to me that I should end my life.”
England and Wales cannot follow this path - the risk is too great, which was one of the reasons why Scotland recently decisively rejected assisted dying.
Legalised assisted dying would change our country forever. Disabled people will hear the message loud and clear that their lives are not worth living - Parliament will have said as much by providing a means of assisting death while failing to ensure disabled people have all they need to live dignified, independent lives.
Many disabled people are terrified about this Bill and were greatly relieved when it failed to become law in the last session. I plead with you not to support the Bill being brought back. My mind would be greatly put at rest if you could assure me that you will oppose any such attempts and any future similar bill.
Thank you for your work on behalf of our constituency.
Yours sincerely,
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