Assisted dying inquiry announced by House of Commons Committee must put voices of dying people at its heart

The Health and Social Care Select Committee has announced the first ever House of Commons inquiry into assisted dying, an important milestone in Westminster that bereaved relatives have been calling for since 2019 through Dignity in Dying’s Compassion is Not A Crime campaign.

Families, parliamentarians and campaigners have urged MPs to examine the impact of the current blanket ban on assisted dying, which not only denies dying people the right to die on their own terms but also criminalises family members for their compassion.

RESPOND TO THE CONSULTATION

Sarah Wootton, Dignity in Dying Chief Executive, said:

“This inquiry is a victory on the road to assisted dying law reform in the UK. However, for a truly fair and evidence-based debate, it is paramount that this inquiry examines the impact of the current law and listens to the voices of those most affected; terminally ill people and their loved ones.

“Every day, dying people are being forced to make impossible decisions between suffering, suicide or seeking the compassion of another country. The message from the public to politicians couldn’t be simpler; you cannot ignore this any longer. With assisted dying legislation being considered in parliaments across the British Isles, Westminster is rightly recognising that doing nothing is simply not an option.”

Kit Malthouse MP, co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Choice at the End of Life and former Cabinet minister, said:

“So many people support assisted dying following the personal experience of a loved one dying in agony and profound distress. The challenge for the Committee, especially those who have been opposed in the past, is to put themselves at the bedside with their constituents who have been through such horror, listen to them objectively and examine the evidence on whether the current law is serving the public – and primarily dying people and their families – as it should.”

Impact of the current law

Among those who have long called for an assisted dying inquiry is Joy Munns, 57, from Staffordshire, whose then 79-year-old mother Mavis Eccleston was tried and acquitted of murder and manslaughter after surviving an attempt to end her own life alongside her terminally ill husband Dennis in 2017.

Joy said:

“I am glad that Parliament has finally listened to calls from my family and others affected by the injustice of our current laws. We have been failed by the ban on assisted dying and our stories must be at the very heart of this inquiry.

“When my Dad was dying in agony from bowel cancer, he desperately wanted to die on his own terms with his family around him. But he was denied that option, forced to resort to begging my Mum for help to end his suffering, with no idea that she would end up being locked in a police cell in her nightie and put in the dock for murder 18 months later. I urge members of the Committee to ask themselves how they can possibly conclude that the law is working well when this is the impact it has.”

Recent data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has indicated that people with serious and potentially terminal illnesses are more than twice as likely to take their own lives than those without, with Dignity in Dying research estimating that up to 650 terminally ill people every year take their own lives. This is in addition to the pre-pandemic average of 50 Brits a year who travel to Switzerland for an assisted death (costing at least £10,000 and risking prosecution for loved ones who accompany an individual) and 6,400 people a year who would die in pain even with universal access to hospice care (as estimated by the Office of Health Economics).

Assisted dying campaign

Cross-party support for an assisted dying inquiry was expressed in a Commons debate on the issue in July, secured after 155,000 members of the public signed an official government petition by Dignity in Dying. MPs speaking in favour of reform in the debate outnumbered opponents by two to one.

Recent polling reveals that nine in 10 people in England and Wales (90%) want to see Westminster debate law change on assisted dying within the next five years, while more than eight in 10 (82%) believe the debate should happen within the next two (Yonder Data Solutions, August 2022). Support for a free and fair debate on assisted dying was consistent across age groups, incomes and voting intentions.

The assisted dying inquiry announcement comes as an assisted dying consultation is launched in the Isle of Man. It follows a landslide vote (22-2) in its Parliament earlier this year to allow a private member’s bill to be introduced by GP and Member of the House of Keys Dr Alex Allinson. A consultation on the issue is ongoing in Jersey after a citizen’s jury recommended law change and a vote in its Parliament last November found States Members were overwhelmingly (36-10) in favour of legalising assisted dying in principle. Drafting of an assisted dying bill in Scotland is underway after a proposal by Liam McArthur MSP received double the required signatures from MSPs and 76% of responses to a public consultation were wholly supportive.

The British public overwhelmingly support law change on assisted dying. Polling on the issue over the last 30 years has consistently shown around 80% of people are in favour of changing the law to allow terminally ill, mentally competent adults in their final months of life the choice to die on their own terms, subject to strict safeguards and alongside access to high-quality end-of-life care.

David Minns, 75, from West Suffolk, has terminal blood cancer and an associated condition called amyloidosis, which is slowly damaging his vital organs. His daughter Katie died of sarcoma at the age of just 46 last year.

David said:

“Five years after my daughter Katie’s cancer diagnosis, I was also diagnosed as terminally ill. Her suffering was horrific to witness, so much so that I contemplated ending her life with a pillow. It is horrifying that the law put me in that desperate situation. Despite the best efforts of dedicated NHS and hospice care, her death was heart-breaking.

“I don’t know how my life will end, but I am confronted by the prospect of a painful death, premature suicide or sedation via palliative care. I am deprived of the controlled, dignified, peaceful exit that an assisted death would give me, with my loved ones present. It would also protect them from having to witness the trauma and deterioration with me that they had to endure with Katie, all over again.

“I am relieved that an inquiry has been called. A change in the law won’t come in time for me, but by contributing my and Katie’s experience to the committee, it will help MPs understand that action must be taken to avoid the terminally ill and their families having to suffer like ours.”

Assisted dying in the UK

Assisted dying is banned across the British Isles. It is currently a crime in England and Wales under the Suicide Act 1961, which states that a person found guilty of “assisting or encouraging a suicide” can be imprisoned for up to 14 years. People who survive an attempt to take their own life alongside a loved one could be charged with manslaughter and others who offer more direct assistance could be charged with murder.

Over 200 million people around the world have access to some form of assisted dying law, including in 11 states in the US, all Australian states and the whole of New Zealand, where the choice is available to terminally ill, mentally competent adults subject to strict safeguards. President Emmanuel Macron has announced a national debate in France with a view to legalising assisted dying by the end of 2023, and a special Dáil committee will examine the topic in Ireland in the New Year.

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For further information or interviews with people with personal stories, representatives of Dignity in Dying or parliamentarians, please contact Molly Pike, Media and Campaigns Officer at Dignity in Dying on 07929 731181 or email: molly.pike@dignityindying.org.uk.