FAQ - Dignity in Dying

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“As a child there existed in my mind a nagging fear about this thing called death. As I have become older, I want to give an assurance to the people I love that the circumstances of their death will be 'good', to be celebrated, and their final hours will be reflective of life well lived.”Jo Brand, Dignity in Dying Patron
“I believe that decisions about the timing and manner of death belong to the individual as a human right. I believe it is wrong to withhold medical methods of terminating life painlessly and swiftly when an individual has a rational and clear-minded sustained wish to end his or her life.”Professor A C Grayling, Dignity in Dying Patron
“I wish to be treated as a responsible adult and believe that people should be legally able to register their wish for an assistance with suicide, if needed. I support Dignity in Dying primarily to help change the law on assisted suicide.”Sir Michael Holroyd CBE, Dignity in Dying Patron
“I support Dignity in Dying because I care about suffering and want the law changed so that those who presently suffer terrible deaths will in future have the option to end their suffering through ending their lives at a time and in the manner of their choice.”Lord Joffe, Dignity in Dying Patron
“My brother John Close died with help from Dignitas in May 2003, aged 55. Motor Neurone Disease had robbed John of almost everything which defined him as human, but the knowledge that he would be in control of his death was a source of great comfort to both of us.”Lesley Close, Dignity in Dying Patron
“My work as a cancer physician inevitably brought me into contact with dying people. I think that assisted dying is an important choice to be offered in the rare situations where doctors are unable to control unbearable symptoms.”Dr Lisa McDonald, Dignity in Dying Patron
“Being incapable of helping a loved one to die when they are at the end of their life, suffering and asking for help is undignified and wrong, and I know this having witnessed it myself at close hand.”Zoe Wannamaker, Dignity in Dying Patron
“My mother, Dr Anne Turner, chose to have an assisted death in 2006 at Dignitas in Zurich. Once my mother had been accepted for an assisted death, she was able to enjoy her life for the remaining time she had, greatly reassured that she would be spared further suffering.”Sophie Pandit, Dignity in Dying Patron
“Having seen my father die, it became very clear to me that we as society need to grasp the nettle and deal with this contentious issue in a way that is humane and acceptable to the majority of right thinking people.”Matthew Wright, Dignity in Dying Patron
“I believe that the exercise of free will concerning the end of life, and the timing of the end of life, is an essential human freedom. I believe that while religious dogma may dictate or limit the choice of believers it should not be imposed on others.”Rabbi Dr Charles Middleburgh, Dignity in Dying Patron
“It is because we believe in the dignity and value of life that we hope for a good death. This is what Dignity in Dying hopes to permit and I passionately support its aims. To linger on against my will on a half-life is no life at all.”A.N Wilson, Dignity in Dying Patron
“My wife, Diane Pretty, had the terminal illness motor neurone disease and wanted to receive medical assistance to die with dignity. During the last weeks of her life, Diane was in considerable pain and distress. The very thing she'd fought through the courts to avoid.”Brian Pretty, Dignity in Dying Patron
“As someone who helped her son to die when he could no longer face the suffering caused by Huntington's disease, I understand fully the need to have a safe, regulated right to die system that takes the pressure off family. After all, who would let their loved ones die alone?”Heather Pratten, Dignity in Dying Patron
“Knowing that most of us, it seems, want the freedom to choose when and how to end our lives so as to avoid, for ourselves and our families, the harrowing consequences of a messy, drawn-out and painful deaths, that choice must be enshrined in a framework of law.”Professor Eric Bolton CB, Dignity in Dying Patron
“Over many years, I have become convinced of the need for a change in the law to protect people with terminal illness who have made the painful decision to seek help in dying. This is why, once I left government, I joined Dignity in Dying and will go on supporting their campaign until we succeed.”Rt Hon Patricia Hewitt MP, Dignity in Dying Patron
“I see it as almost inevitable, that society will become more understanding, and more sophisticated, about assisted dying. As with suicide, it is right to strive to find better options, but when the alternatives have run out it must surely be wrong for society to insist that people suffer.”Nick Ross, Dignity in Dying Patron
“My father, who was suffering from cancer and no longer wished to live, died as he chose: in peace and dignity, with my mother beside him. I passionately hope that, if I too were terminally ill, and was finding life unbearable, I could be allowed to die at a time of my choosing.”Rosemary Brown OBE, Dignity in Dying Patron
“As a doctor for over 35 years, I became increasingly aware of the failure of even the best care to deal with the suffering of some patients. The present clinical, ethical, and legal fudge - and a law which is discredited in practice - is dangerous for patients and also for professionals.”Professor Raymond Tallis, Dignity in Dying Patron
“Having been a member of Dignity in Dying for thirty years I fully support the campaign to ensure that all people have, what they consider to be, a good death. The option of an assisted death at the end of life would provide the choice and control we all deserve.”Miriam Karlin OBE, Dignity in Dying Patron
“I endorse the work of Dignity in Dying because I believe passionately that any individual should have the right to choose, as far as it is possible, the time and the conditions of their death. I think it's time we learned to be as good at dying as we are at living.”Sir Terry Pratchett, Dignity in Dying Patron

FAQs

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Why change the law on assisted dying?
Why do you not advocate the option of an assisted death for non-terminally ill people or people lacking mental competence?
Will legalising assisted dying create a "slippery slope"?
Are vulnerable people threatened by a change in the law?
Don't terminally ill people need better care, not the option of an assisted death?
How can you give someone the right to kill another person?
Will patients trust their doctors if we change the law?
Is assisted dying compatible with medical ethics?
Aren't some disabled groups opposed to a change in the law?

Why change the law on assisted dying?
People want choice and control at the end-of-life. Opinion poll, after opinion poll has shown the overwhelming majority of people believe that terminally ill adults should be able to end their suffering, within strict legal safeguards, if they feel it has become unbearable.

This is a choice that the majority of us will thankfully never have to exercise. However, it is a choice that most of us do not want to deny to others. Ultimately, all terminally ill people should have access to good quality patient centred end-of-life care and treatment. But despite this, and as acknowledged by the British Medical Association, even the best palliative care cannot ensure that all dying patients have what they consider to be a dignified death.

There is a lot of evidence showing that fear of the process of dying is alleviated when people have the right to ask for a medically assisted death if their suffering becomes more than they can bear. Currently, the law is failing such people, many of whom seek to take control of the manner and timing of their deaths in other ways. While some make an Advance Decision to refuse medical treatment others take more desperate, and dangerous, measures such as attempting violent suicide - this could and should be changed.

As has been shown in other countries, like Belgium and Oregon in the United States, assisted dying legislation and palliative care can develop alongside each other. A more compassionate approach to end-of-life decision making, which promotes choice whilst protecting vulnerable people, is possible.
Why do you not advocate the option of an assisted death for non-terminally ill people or people lacking mental competence?

A change in the law is needed to help some people overcome the suffering caused by the process of dying. It is about giving terminally ill adults choice and control over how they die, so that they may have what they consider to be a "good" death.

If a terminally ill adult decides to have an assisted death, it must be their decision. Therefore, they must fully understand the consequences of their decision and be confident that it is in their best interest - this requires mental competence.
Will legalising assisted dying create a "slippery slope"?
Research published in the Journal of Medical Ethics in 2007 found absolutely no evidence of a slippery slope in the Netherlands or Oregon.

The current UK law does not protect the vulnerable. Evidence shows us that assisted dying is already taking place in the UK without any safeguards at all. Assisted dying is being carried out by doctors and relatives, even without evidence that the assisted death was in line with the individuals' wishes.

It would be far better to regulate assisted dying with safeguards to ensure it was the person's own choice. Safeguards would protect the vulnerable but allow people like Debbie Purdy the choice of a dignified death.

The Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill would have applied to mentally competent, terminally ill people only - not people who are elderly, disabled, not mentally competent, or under the age of 18.
Are vulnerable people threatened by a change in the law?
Vulnerable people are more at risk now because there are no safeguards.

Any change in the law must have safeguards at its centre. The last Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill had over 20 inter-related safeguards to protect the vulnerable.

These safeguards would afford better protection against back-street suicide and mercy killings than we have at the moment. We need to change the law to bring assisted dying into the open and subject to scrutiny.

Evidence shows us that assisted dying is already taking place in UK without any safeguards at all. Assisted dying is being carried out by doctors and relatives, even without evidence that this in line with the individual?s wishes.

In contrast research published in the Journal of Medical Ethics in 2007 found absolutely no evidence that vulnerable people were put at risk as a result of a change in the law in the Netherlands or Oregon. Legalising assisted dying would ensure strict legal safeguards are in place to make sure that assisted dying is only carried out under the wishes of the mentally competent, terminally ill adult concerned.
Dignity in Dying only supports assisted dying if it is the patient's informed choice.
Don't terminally ill people need better care, not the option of an assisted death?
Terminally ill people should have both access to better care and the option of an assisted death if their suffering becomes unbearable.

Whilst palliative care providers in both the voluntary sector and the NHS do excellent work, some people still suffer greatly and want to choose medical help to die. Even the best palliative care will leave some terminally ill people with unalleviated pain, and pain is not the only consideration, there are all the other distressing symptoms like inability to swallow or control saliva (constant dribbling), nausea, shortness of breath, constipation, itching and so on.

The concern of people like Debbie Purdy is often not the pain - it's about their loss of autonomy and dignity, as they see it. The House of Lords Select Committee on the ADTI Bill recognised that for some people palliative care is not enough.

Furthermore, assisted dying is complementary to hospice care. It would only be an option once hospice care had been explored. 87% of patients who used Oregon's assisted dying law over the last years were in hospice care.
How can you give someone the right to kill another person?

This is not the doctor's right to kill, it is the patient's right to decide about their own life. We only support assisted dying if it is the patient's informed choice.

If a mentally competent, terminally ill adult decides he or she wants to die because of unbearable suffering, the law does not forbid them from taking their own life - suicide is not a crime. However, in the later stages of terminal illness people are often physically weak and do not have the means or the medical knowledge to bring about a peaceful death which is why there must be the option of medical assistance.
Will patients trust their doctors if we change the law?

People want an adult relationship with their doctor where their choices are respected.

Under current laws terminally ill patients who have exhausted all alternatives feel abandoned by doctors who are unable to help them at the end of their lives.

Evidence from Oregon and the Netherlands shows that assisted dying legislation improves the patient doctor relationship, and increases openness and honesty, and a study in the BMJ looking at seven European countries found the highest level of trust in doctors in the Netherlands.
Is assisted dying compatible with medical ethics?

Whilst some doctors may not want to help a patient die, others will be willing to assist to end the unnecessary suffering of their patient. They will conclude that it is more harmful to force someone to live their last days in a condition they find unbearable, than it is to respect their autonomy, their dignity and their choice and help them to end their life with dignity and without suffering.

However, health professionals who don't agree for their own personal reasons could choose not to participate, since this is all about respecting choice. With this in mind, the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill clearly stated that no health care professional or provider is under any obligation to take part in physician assisted dying.
Aren't some disabled groups opposed to a change in the law?
Some disabled groups are opposed to a change in the law but many disabled people support the campaign for a change in the law that would give terminally ill people the option of an assisted death. The Disability Rights Commission's own poll showed 63% of their members supported changing the law.

But in any case this is not about Disability, it is about people with a terminal illness. In the Netherlands and Oregon, 90% of those who opt for assistance to die have cancer; they are not disabled.

Dignity in Dying campaigns for an assisted dying law based on the legislation in Oregon: which would give the option of an assisted death to terminally ill people only, not disabled people (unless they were terminally ill). There is no evidence from Oregon of any risk to disabled people as a result of the legislation.