Dignity in Dying: Harmonising the Law with Compassion
Multiple countries are increasingly joining the international trend towards promoting personal autonomy through legalising assisted dying, one in which the UK is an outlier. Unfortunately, the law surrounding this area has remained stagnant for more than 50 years, even as the society around it, such as the British Medical Association, religions, and the political landscape’s moves to accept it.
The current law governing assisted dying states it is a criminal offence for anyone to assist or encourage suicide (s2 Suicide Act 1961). This blanket ban does not take into consideration the suffering of the terminally ill and their family members. Dignity in Dying is a campaign which advocates for the legalisation of euthanasia for mentally competent, terminally ill adults. As a Warwick society, we want the same. This change would give those suffering a choice about treatments, information about good quality end-of-life care, and control over their death. Choice over our death seems like an obvious part of our autonomy with it being so intertwined with our private lives. However, this law prevents the terminally ill from making a choice accessible to a healthy adult.
Furthermore, this movement has garnered official support from the current Health Secretary, Matt Hancock. He has pledged government support for current evidence which indicates a positive outlook for euthanasia. This would be a considerable benefit in helping to change the law. Part of the problem is that the suicide rates of the terminally ill are dangerously underreported. The emotional and physical trauma caused by terminal illness is serious and has led to 300 terminally ill people commit more dangerous forms of suicide per year. This strongly indicates that the ban on euthanasia is not discouraging suicide amongst the terminally ill, and worsens their end of life conditions. Hancock’s support for a public inquiry appears to be more likely in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, as Matt Hancock has justified travelling abroad for assisted-dying as a reasonable excuse to leave one’s home through the lockdown. This appears counter-intuitive as it describes an otherwise illegal act as being reasonable, and illustrates how out of date the law is.
This issue was raised in R (Conway) v The Secretary of State for Justice. Noel Conway suffered from a terminal condition called - motor neuron disease - and claimed judicial review to challenge the current law. Noel brought this claim due to fears he would become ‘entombed’ in his own body and die by ‘suffocation or choking’ and believed that being given the right to euthanasia would give him full personal autonomy. This was a landmark case as the Court of Appeal confirmed that the courts hold the power to make a declaration of incompatibility between the Suicide Act and human rights legislation such as Article 8, the right to respects one’s private and family life of the European Convention of Human Rights.
Unfortunately, Noel’s appeal was not successful and no declaration of incompatibility was made, which ultimately forced Noel to give up personal autonomy over his life. Whilst there is the option for Noel to travel abroad, to places such as Dignitas in Switzerland, this journey is needlessly expensive, on average costing £10,000, and is a lonely experience which forces people to die without the comfort of their own friends and family.
Furthermore, many countries have already made concessions towards allowing assisted dying. For example, New Zealand joined the trend through the legalisation of euthanasia. This followed a referendum where 65.2% voted ‘Yes’ for the End-of-Life Choice Act 2019. The law will be enacted at the end of this year; and with the country being in the Commonwealth, it provides a favourable template for the UK to follow. Even more religious countries such as Spain and Portugal are showing compassion within the law. Both Spain and Portugal have voted to legalise assisted dying, pending upper house review and Presidential approval respectively. Therefore, religion does not seem to be a conflicting issue for the support of assisted dying, as in the UK 79% of religious people support the campaign. This highlights how different groups within society, despite varying beliefs, would like to see substantial changes to laws governing assisted suicide. It seems only right that the UK would join these countries in creating this with our current position being rooted in archaic views. Even closer to home, there has been progressive legal change, as Ireland held a critical vote to progress their own Dying in Dignity Bill. This brings into question why the UK is any different.
There has also been significant encouragement from UK doctors joining the religious in supporting assisted death. Many worry of the practicalities in administering assisted dying, and particularly the necessary safeguards that would be put in place to prevent abuse of this new law. The proposed bill would be limited to terminally ill and mentally competent adults where the dying person will end their own life and does not permit another person to do it for them. They can die in their own home, with a waiting period to allow reflection, and would require assessment of the patient from doctors and a high-court judge. Currently, 54% of GP’s are either supportive or neutral about assisted dying. Whilst there is debate surrounding medical ethics and assisted dying, rooted in the controversy between the Hippocratic Oath and the causation of harm, this statistic shows that allowing people to die in agony is not what doctors themselves consider to be part of their job.
The UK has become too focused on antiquated laws and has allowed itself to forget that the law should be a reflection of its current society. The law’s blanket ban on assisted dying lacks compassion and flexibility for suffering, terminally ill adults. As such, the UK risks becoming left behind and has forced its vulnerable citizens to flee abroad in search of compassion.