MPs voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, with a 55-vote majority. It will be subject to further scrutiny, debates and votes if it is to pass into law. It proposes giving terminally ill people the right to choose to end their life if they are expected to die within six months, subject to a number of safeguarding procedures.
The Socialist has invited contributions from readers to the wider debate about access to assisted dying. We publish responses from readers.
• To read what we have published previously search ‘assisted dying’ at socialistparty.org.uk
‘Haves and have-nots’
My father died just before Covid hit, but had been in declining health over the previous year and had, at one point, asked me to help him die. He said he had lived long enough – he was in his late 90s – but I said I could not do that as I would end up in prison. In fact, he was diagnosed with lung cancer a short while later and went very quickly. What was very apparent was that, towards the end, the medical profession makes the decision to ‘help end your life’ by increasing the dose of morphine you are given.
I also recently lost my mother, aged 101. Again, she felt she had lived too long and was ready to go months before she finally died, with the medical profession helping to shorten the end with morphine doses.
So, I don’t think it is the case that doctors have to preserve life ‘at all costs’. After all, the NHS is near breaking point and I don’t think there is any doubt that medical professionals make decisions that impact who lives and who dies in many situations.
At the end, my mother was living in a retirement home. There, they have control of medications so residents can’t ‘save up’ a painkiller to help end their life, if that is what they would choose to do. Many staff told me about residents who felt it was their time to go and some chose, as my mother did, to starve themselves. Again, that is not a nice way to go but the choice is limited.
You don’t have to be ill to want to end your life. I believe, if you are elderly and able to say what you want on the question of living longer, surely those wishes should be respected too?
I am so glad that my parents didn’t have any of the illnesses where death is drawn-out and painful. That must be horrible and surely something we should be more ‘humane’ about, listening to the wishes of those affected?
I agree with what has been pointed out by others, that the right to live or die is not equal between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’. If you have money, you can go to another country for help to die, if you haven’t, you can’t afford to.
Of course, under capitalism, ‘choice’ of any sort is limited, everything is dependent on what money is available. That’s why as well as demanding the right to assisted dying, it is essential to fight for socialist change to ensure the best possible care towards the end of life and a society where every individual is valued, whatever their age.
Ruthie McNally, Worcester
‘A nice euphemism?’
The bill before parliament on ‘assisted dying’ follows decades of ageist propaganda. Anyone who is old or ill (or both) is denigrated as a cost to the NHS.
Thanks to the cut in winter fuel allowance, pensioners have to choose between food and heating. Many pensioners will end up with having the ‘right to die’ from hypothermia thrust upon them.
I take a number of medications for heart failure. They cost money. A sugar-coated cyanide pill from the government could put a stop to that expense. And they wouldn’t have to pay my pension either.
Does that sound far-fetched? In Canada, a woman called Christine Gauthier who asked for a stairlift was offered euthanasia instead. Other disabled Canadians report similar experiences.
Like racism and misogyny, ageism serves to divide the working class.
‘Assisted dying’ is a nice euphemism. Soon the right to die (and die poor) will be the only right we have left.
Derek McMillan, West Sussex
‘I would not trust this lot’
These are my thoughts as a disabled person. Personally I would want to hold out to the bitter end. I support access to assisted dying, but not under capitalism. My fear is that it will be used as an easy and cheap option to bring an end to the life of someone with serious health problems.
We already see the Labour government shamefully peddling propaganda against disabled people being a burden, telling sick and disabled people to get back to work, threatening to cut benefits.
I would not trust this lot as far as I could spit. Even less, the Tories. I’m sure many disabled people are now feeling the same.
Endless propaganda against disabled people was used by the Nazis in the 1930s, leading ultimately to ‘Aktion T4’, mass murder of hundreds of thousands of disabled people.
It looks like this Labour government has more NHS privatisation in the pipeline. Imagine private companies like Serco or G4S getting the contract to administer assisted dying.
On the basis of profit-driven capitalism, and under any capitalist government, I think there is too much room for abuse, and the risk of it being used as a clinical way to stop giving end-of-life care.
The MPs voting in favour of assisted dying are the same as those voting to cut and privatise our NHS. We desperately need a new party to give the working class and disabled people a political voice.
From pharmaceuticals to all aspects of care, it all needs to be taken out of private hands and run for the benefit of our health not profit.
I would call on all disabled people to join the Socialist Party to fight for a future!
James Morbin, Oxford
