Our Response, The Assisted Dying Bill
We have grave concerns about the assisted dying bill and we summarise these concerns below,
End of Life Care
Our helpline evidence clearly shows that elderly vulnerable older people who are not terminally ill are dying for the want of basic care such as food, water and medical intervention. Families have been told by care home staff that their relative has been placed on end of life care.
This decision is all too often made by care home staff, there are no safeguards, consent is not sought from the individual or their families, every day people are denied basic, life sustaining care based on their date of birth alone and not on any medical condition.
What message does this proposed law send to those who are already playing god with peoples lives?
Elderly people admitted to hospital have always faced age discrimination to such a degree that many older people fear to go to hospital because they fear for their lives. This issue has greatly increased since the pandemic because for the first time the scale of contempt for the right to life has come to public attention as never before for good reason. Politician’s decided to play god with peoples lives and their contempt for the elderly, vulnerable and disabled has never been more apparent than now.
Whilst we have every sympathy with those who are terminally ill and who want to die with dignity, we cannot allow a law that will put the lives of so many people at risk. Those behind this law have experience of their own situation but no experience of what is happening in care settings every single day to people who want to live. No law should disregard the risks to the many and yet this is exactly what the assisted dying bill has done.
Capacity
This is another issue that has major implications and all too often people with full capacity are deemed to be without capacity at the time decisions are taken to withdraw care. Of course there is the court of protection, but, people who are dying of thirst do not have the luxury of time whilst a case is taken to decide on capacity.
Reading the assisted dying bill we are struck by the naivety that presumes such life and death decisions would be made by unbiased, qualified people in accordance with the wishes of the individual. This is not the reality, vulnerable people are dying for the want of care every single day.
Whistleblowers
To date we have supported fourteen thousand whistleblowers, staff who speak out to protect lives every day. This is a huge issue for whistleblowers because only those on the inside see the scale of the inhumanity that already exists. We beg MPs to please not legalise that inhumanity.
The safeguards in the assisted dying bill are not safeguards at all, we oppose this bill and will be outside parliament on November 29th.
Whistleblowers already have to fight for peoples lives every day because it is not safe to be old or vulnerable in the UK.