It has been confirmed that MPs will debate and vote in this parliamentary session on measures to legalise physician assisted suicide. This is a hugely complex and emotive issue, and one in which I personally have many questions.
Firstly, what is physician assisted suicide? It is called many things, and is commonly referred to as assisted dying or even dignity in dying. I am sure we all want people to have dignity in dying and to minimise suffering where possible, however neither of these are the issue being debated in this legislation. The core of the issue is should we make it legal for someone to end the life of another person, where certain criteria are met and it is the clear wish of the patient. Everyone with a terminal illness should receive quality care, including palliative care aimed at easing suffering where needed, irrespective of whether physician assisted suicide is legalised in the future.
While tragic, suicide is legal in this country, but assisting someone to help end their life is not. For those with the ability to end their own life this is not an issue, but for those facing terminal and/ or degenerative conditions, who may not have the ability to act independently or wish to accelerate the dying process. Clearly this is traumatic for all those affected, however the Government also has a duty to protect vulnerable people who may be at risk from pressure or coercion to end their life, should this become law.
This clearly has huge legal, emotional, moral and even financial considerations, which ultimately come down to the following questions:
- Can the law achieve the balance between the rights of patients wishing assistance to end their life with the protections necessary to safeguard highly vulnerable people?
- If it can, should it?
- And if so, how can this be achieved in practice?
Given the importance of this debate, I want make sure residents, community, and faith groups across the constituency have every opportunity to pass onto me their views and I have therefore prepared the survey below. Constituents can also contact me directly to share their views by emailing me at ben.spencer.mp@parliament.uk