Lord Falkner’s ‘Assisted Dying Bill’ had its first reading in the House of Lords on June 5, 2014 and will have a second reading on July 18, 2014. If ‘The Assisted Dying Bill’ receives royal assent the UK will be among nations who accept suicide as a treatment option for those faced with terminal illness.
The Assisted Dying Bill proscribes several safeguards to ensure that the option is open only to competent adults who have six months or less to live and have reached a voluntary, settled decision to terminate their own life. The Bill would be of immense benefit to people who want to exercise their autonomy to choose what to them is a good death.
Maybe because of the spectre of eugenics, the bill does not address the concerns of people who live with existential suffering. Tony Nicklinson was left locked-in after a stroke and launched a legal action for the right-to-die so his suffering could be ended. When his appeal failed, he declined nutrition and died after 6 days. Some may regard Nicklinson as fortunate to have gone within that time frame.
It took Christina Symanski two months to go. Symanski was left paralysed after a pool accident and after 6 years did not want to continue to be a burden on her family.
Very few people would willingly suffer and if some people are allowed to opt out of suffering others may begin to clamour for the criteria to be widened. Eventually, the UK may find itself in the same position as The Netherlands. Initially, only those adults diagnosed with terminal illness could choose assisted suicide but the criteria has been widened to include people with mental health illness, bereaved people, old people and lately, children with terminal illness.