Discussion Group – November 2022
Six of us met at the Manor House on Monday 14th November to discuss assisted dying. As we so often find things are rather more complex on examination than they seem at first glance, and the differences between suicide, assisted suicide and euthanasia was briefly laid out, together with the small number of legal jurisdictions that have laws relating to the issue.
There were three schools of thought amongst us. The first was that legislation shouldn’t be attempted, the second that it should within strict boundaries and the third was that the option should be widely available. The first viewpoint referenced the availability of palliative care, the difficulty of drawing up legislation and sympathetic attitude of the legal system towards assisted suicide. The second was that only tight restriction on the people and conditions that would qualify for assisted suicide stood any chance of becoming law. The third was that by extending the use of living wills it would become much more widely available and include conditions such as dementia.
There was an acceptence that in the past doctors had acted alone to hasten the death of patients, but that following the Shipman case this was not an option. There was further acceptance that religious views against assisted suicide could not be allowed to influence the discussion, since it would be an decision made by the individual alone.
We considered the difficulties that would arise in less restrictive legislation, with possible pressure being applied to vulnerable people to end their lives.
We decided that, prompted by the World Cup, next time we would discuss the extent to which people should modify their behaviour when in different cultures.
Michael Heyden, Convenor
Please note that the views expressed by the Discussion Group may not represent those of the wider Dawlish and District membership.