Vulnerable people face deadly General Election threat

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SPRING Appeal

Dear
SPUC supporter,
When Parliament passed the Abortion Act in 1967, pro-life leaders warned that euthanasia would one day be legalised too.

They said that once society stopped caring for human beings at the beginning of life, it would cease to respect them at the end of life too.

Many found that idea preposterous, even laughable.

Yet 57 years on, a medically assisted killing law for England and Wales is very much on the cards.

In February, the Health and Social Care Committee Inquiry into Assisted Suicide rejected calls for it to recommend a debate and vote on assisted suicide at Westminster.

Despite this, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has repeated his claim that he would back an assisted suicide bill should Labour win this year’s General Election.

With Labour ahead in the polls, this is a threat we must take very seriously.

The only thing that distinguishes assisted suicide from euthanasia is how the deadly cocktail of drugs is delivered.

Euthanasia requires the doctor to inject the lethal dose, whereas, with assisted suicide, the patients themselves must take responsibility for ending their own life.
* Both involve the deliberate killing of an innocent human being
* Both radically undermine respect for the sanctity of human life and the inviolability of the right to life, a bedrock of civilised society.

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Most Britons are misinformed about assisted suicide

1. Assisted suicide is not a solution to pain

Good palliative care should ensure that pain is controlled well.
* It is a myth that all assisted suicide deaths are quick and pain-free.

Reports from countries where assisted suicide is legal demonstrate how some patients suffer slow and horrible deaths due to the adverse effects of the drugs used.

2. Most doctors remain opposed to assisted suicide

The majority of doctors in the UK remain opposed to the introduction of assisted suicide. This opposition is strongest amongst doctors who work most closely with dying patients.

3. Slippery slope leading to MORE killing

When Canada passed its infamous Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) law in 2016, only terminally ill adults were eligible.
* In 2021, the law was changed to include those with serious and chronic physical conditions, even if that condition was non-life threatening
* 2027, MAID will expand again to include Canadians with mental health conditions.

In addition, the number of Canadians being killed by MAID each year has risen inexorably:
* In 2016, MAID deaths totalled 1,018
* In 2018, that number rose to 4,493
* By 2020, annual MAID deaths had risen again to 7,611
* And in 2022, that number almost DOUBLED to 13,241 deaths

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4. Assisted suicide puts pressure on vulnerable people

The Health and Social Care Committee’s report noted that there have been major problems in safeguarding the vulnerable and those without full mental capacity when assisted suicide and/or euthanasia have been introduced in other jurisdictions.
* One of the main reasons people agree to be killed is because they feel they are a burden on others.

People with disabilities and the terminally ill have more reasons than most for fearing the passing of this law which could see them pressured to end their lives.

Canadian Sean Tagert, aged 41, was killed by assisted suicide after health officials decided to cut the funding for his in-home care hours.

Mr Tagert suffered from Motor Neurone Disease (MND).

His illness reduced his ability to move his body, eat or speak, but his mental awareness remained unaffected.

His doctors recommended 24-hour in-home care support.

However, Vancouver Coastal Health, initially only offered Mr Tagert 15.5 hours of care a day, which was then raised to 20 hours a day.

This still left Mr Tagert with $263.50 a day to pay for the remaining care he needed.

According to Canadian media reports, Mr Tagert took to social media to state that two officials visited his home and confirmed they were cutting funding for his already inadequate care hours.

After receiving this news, Mr Tagert wrote:

"So last Friday, I officially submitted my medically assisted death paperwork with lawyers and doctors, everything is in proper order.

It’s been a month since I submitted my appeal to the Vancouver Coastal Health patient care quality department.

They didn’t even respond….Welcome to the great Canadian healthcare system."

Mr Tagert was killed by assisted suicide on 6^th August 2019.
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When the right to die becomes the duty to die

It is becoming increasingly evident that an assisted suicide law could lead to vulnerable people seeing suicide as a treatment option to save the NHS money.

At a time of over-stretched NHS budgets and underfunded social care, assisted suicide could begin to be seen as an alternative to treatment and care.

Should the law change, there is a real risk of a dangerous culture developing in which vulnerable people are seen as a burden to their families and a drain on the NHS.

It is vital that we address the problem because many will not have families to fight for them.

We have a duty to protect vulnerable people from state-endorsed killing at all stages of life, and that is why I want to invest in an SPUC initiative that will protect the vulnerable.

Even now, when assisted suicide is illegal, we are hearing of cases where patients are being killed in UK hospitals through lack of nutrition and hydration.

Last year a disturbing report published by the Lords and Commons Family and Child Protection Group found that:

“… misdiagnoses and mis-assessments as to quality of life are all too common.

This, together with a failure to appreciate the respect and care required for those approaching their last days, is, in every sense, a fatal combination.

Excessive and inappropriate use of Midazolam and Morphine, rendering a patient comatose, coupled with the withdrawal of food and hydration, have combined to impose a death sentence from which, in the current climate, there is no right of appeal.
From over 600 complaints that we know about – the tip of a very large iceberg – this Report details 16 medically analysed and validated accounts of such failure, provided in their own words by families left stunned at the inhumane treatment suffered by their relations.

I have been in touch with campaigners who have been collating the evidence of patients being killed in UK hospitals and I want to support them in addressing this issue and ensuring families are helped in protecting their sick and elderly.

In the meantime, I would like to do more to publicise SPUC’s own service which is helping to protect vulnerable patients.
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Patients First Network [Initiative]
The service helps families of vulnerable patients let doctors know how they expect their sick relative to be treated in hospital.

This is particularly important in cases where a relative is mentally incapacitated and, therefore, unable to communicate with doctors or give consent for treatment.

This may arise in conditions affecting the mind (a brain injury or Alzheimer's for instance) or mental incapacity following a stroke or an accident.

Patients First Network is available to anyone over the age of 16.

Confidential support
* A telephone helpline offers a first point of contact for relatives and friends of patients in hospital who may be in danger of euthanasia by neglect

Advice on end-of-life care. A sympathetic listener is always there if you need someone to talk to about your fears and concerns for someone you love.
Advertising

I would like to raise awareness of the problems reported by the Lords and Commons Family and Child Protection Group and let more families know that help is available from the Patients First service.

We intend to advertise the service on popular social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Google, as this will give us the widest possible audience reach at an affordable price.

Estimated cost: £6,000

Legal costs

In addition, we need to pay for the initial specialist legal advice to make sure callers to the helpline receive sound guidance and advice.

Estimated cost: £8,000

Will you give £10 or £20 or £50 or £100 or £250 or £500 or £1,000 or more to protect vulnerable people from the threat of a UK Assisted Suicide law?
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57 years ago, few predicted that the logical conclusion of legalising abortion would be the killing of vulnerable human beings further down the age scale.

There is still time to STOP assisted suicide from becoming law in the UK.

But I need your help to win this battle in the months ahead.
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Thank you for your support at this critical time.

Without it, SPUC would be powerless to act in the defence of unborn babies, terminally ill patients, people with chronic disabilities and even those with mental health conditions which may make them susceptible to suicide.

Yours sincerely,
John Deighan
Chief Executive

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