UK doctors send open letter to Prime Minister opposing assisted suicide legislation

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Thousands of UK doctors have sent an open letter to the Prime Minister, highlighting their concerns with legalising assisted suicide and urging him to not “rush” into a “hasty legislation”.

According to SPUC, UK MPs will be voting on a bill on 29th November, that seeks to legalise assisted suicide. In light, of this recent push for assisted suicide, a group of healthcare providers in the UK, have signed an open letter to their Prime Minister, Labour MP Keir Starmer, urging him to not rush into legalising assisted suicide and to instead provide palliative care.

So far, 2,038 doctors, 905 nurses, and 462 other healthcare workers have added their name to the letter. 

The letter is as follows:

“We write with great concern regarding the introduction of a Bill to legalise doctor-assisted suicide. The NHS is broken, with health and social care in disarray. Palliative care is woefully underfunded and many lack access to specialist provision. The thought of assisted suicide being introduced and managed safely at such a time is remarkably out of touch with the gravity of the current mental health crisis and pressures on staff.”

Drawing upon the known issues with Canada’s assisted suicide program, the letter continues: “It is impossible for any Government to draft assisted suicide laws which include protection from coercion and from future expansion. Canada has clearly demonstrated that safeguards can be eroded in a matter of just five years; it has been roundly criticised for introducing euthanasia for those who are disabled and plans for the mentally ill have been paused because of international concern.”

“The shift from preserving life to taking life is enormous and should not be minimised. The prohibition of killing is present in all societies due to the immeasurable worth and inherent dignity of every human life. The prohibition of killing is the safeguard. The current law is the protection for the vulnerable.”

“Any change would threaten society’s ability to safeguard vulnerable patients from abuse; it would undermine the trust the public places in physicians; and it would send a clear message to our frail, elderly and disabled patients about the value that society places on them as people.”

“Far from one person’s decision affecting no one else, it affects us all. Some patients may never consider assisted suicide unless it was suggested to them. Nearly half those who choose assisted suicide in Oregon cite ‘feeling a burden’.” 

“As healthcare professionals, we have a legal duty of care for the safety and wellbeing of our patients.  We, the undersigned, will never take our patients’ lives – even at their request. But for the sake of us all, and for future generations, we ask do not rush in to hasty legislation but instead fund excellent palliative care,” it concluded.

Doctors have repeatedly come out against assisted suicide. Last year, the Irish Association for Palliative Care experts also came out in opposition of assisted suicide saying that “acts as a form of protection for vulnerable patients who may be basing their decision to die on confounding addressable factors, such as a sense of being burdensome”, and also stressed the importance of palliative care. Despite this, last month the Dail voted to approve of the Joint Oireachtas Committee report that recommended legalising assisted suicide. 

Sandra Parda of the Life Institute commented saying: “Bravo to all the doctors and healthcare providers that are standing up for real healthcare! Too many people will be put at risk if assisted suicide were to be legalised and we must ensure that every life is treated with the love, respect and dignity they deserve, by showing that their lives are worth caring for.”