The Chair of Dying Well, Baroness Finlay of Llandaff, explained in The Times this week why she considers 'assisted dying' to be a dangerous step too far.

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The few cases of assisted suicide that we see in the media spotlight are no guide to what we would see if the practice were to be legalised and the law's deterrent removed. Attempts to legalise such assistance at the same time as the Government is, rightly, tightening up the Suicide Act are irresponsible and dangerous.

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Much of the media focus in the public debate on 'assisted dying' tends to be on the wishes of a small number of resolute individuals who want to bring their lives to an end and want doctors to help them to commit suicide.  All too often the interests of the anonymous but silent majority are overlooked - people who are bravely and successfully coping with the fact that they are dying and coming to terms with the process of doing so but who do not seek out the media spotlight, who do not want to die but who could easily be drawn into a suicide culture by the removal of the protection that the law now gives them.

With permission, therefore, we are providing a link to a thoughtful article published recently on the website of the Care Not Killing Alliance which examines in depth and in a calm and rational manner the potential impact on society of giving a small minority of seriously ill people a legal right to receive assistance from doctors to commit suicide. Read More ... >>>

In December last year Margo MacDonald, a Member of the Scottish Parliament, launched a public consultation on her proposals for a change in Scottish law to allow what she called 'physician-assisted dying'.  Her consultation document makes clear that what Ms MacDonald has in mind is euthanasia - ie the direct administration of lethal drugs by a doctor - and that, in addition to people who are seriously ill or have become paralysed through trauma, she envisages this as an option for people who are not ill at all but believe their lives to be intolerable.  It is difficult to see these proposals as anything other than euthanasia on demand.

With permission, therefore, we are reproducing the full response that the Care Not Killing Alliance has submitted to these proposals.  Read More ... >>>