Why I cannot support assisted dying

The letter I sent to my MP

I am aware that this may well be my most controversial post on Substack, and that many friends will vehemently disagree with me. I accept this difference of opinion, and am keen to understand the opposing point of view. But I cannot support assisted dying in a society which does not value the lives of people who cannot contribute economically.

Below is the letter I sent to my MP. It is not an open letter as such, but neatly outlines my opposition. If you are pro-assisted dying, and as I say in my letter, I once was too, please take the time to understand my objections, even if you do not agree.

Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this email. I am writing to you as a constituency member as I am extremely concerned about Friday’s vote on the Terminally Ill Adults (Assisted Dying) Bill. I strongly feel that in a country where disabled people are not valued, and the NHS and social care are underfunded and overstretched, there is no way in which to implement this bill which would truly safeguard vulnerable people. Disabled people in the UK are already to made to feel burdensome. This bill has the potential, as we have seen abroad, to make people feel duty-bound to die.

I am not a religious person, and my concerns do not come from a particular regard for the sanctity of life. In fact, in the past I have been vocally supportive of assisted dying for terminally ill people. However, my mind has been drastically changed by what has happened following the passing of similar bills in the Netherlands and Canada. In these countries we have seen the scope of access to assisted dying quickly widened from those who are terminally ill, as initially enacted, to non-fatally disabled people, those with mental health conditions, and children. I have no faith whatsoever that this would not also be the case should the bill pass in the UK.

The reason for wanting to die is often cited as life having become “unbearable”. I want to put forth that current social conditions in the UK have caused many more people’s lives to become impossible to bear than should ever be the case, particularly in a high GDP country. Cuts to community services, lack of (easy) access to medical care, or a long waiting list, the social care crisis, and the cost of living means that even for those who are not disabled or terminally ill, life is far from easy. For those who are terminally ill, disabled or have poor mental health, life has become one battle after another, fighting for services, support, dignity, care.

How conveniently cheap a dose of barbiturates would be compared to properly funding these services.

How many people will “choose” to die because the government has made simply surviving in comfort and with dignity too difficult?

There is no such thing as safeguarded assisted dying when the social safeguards expected in any modern society are so eroded.

As I am sure you know, a neoliberal society values only what somebody can contribute to the economy. Terminally ill and disabled people are already made to feel as though their need for support and care is a burden to families and the overstretched health and social care system. There is no way we can have legal assisted dying without this sense of burden turning into an acute pressure to take one’s own life before its natural conclusion. Indeed, in the case of those who cannot clearly communicate their wishes, this decision may be made for them. A. C. Grayling has already advocated for the bill to be expanded “to those who cannot come to terms with being wheelchair bound… or who is clinically depressed and is never going to be independent of medications for the rest of their lives.”

I am not a wheelchair user, or physically disabled, but I will be “dependent” on medication to manage my mental health for the rest of my life. Having access to these most basic of medications has made my life worth living. Proper support, therapies, care, and support for carers can make life infinitely more worth living. Grayling has made it clear he does not value my life, and that terrifies me. But this is not about me. Terminally ill people can have a good death without choosing the time, the hospice movement specialises in this (and their reliance on charity funding should cause a public outcry). Many people’s poor experiences of a relative dying are linked to a lack of proper support and care.

In a country where services are funded, people do not feel they are a burden, and care is part of the fabric of society, perhaps assisted dying could be ethically legalised. But we must learn from the dystopian lesson of Canada and the Netherlands. People will feel forced to die.

I implore you to vote against this bill on Friday. To stand up for the rights of vulnerable people who have been most harmed by cuts to health and social care services. To fight for a good, dignified life for all, not access to a duty-bound death.