Not Dead Yet UK is determined to resist a change in the law on assisted suicide. We believe that it is not possible to provide adequate safeguards to protect the lives of disabled people. We are also deeply concerned that an alteration in the law would inevitably lead to further changes that would put even more disabled people at risk, the “slippery slope” effect.
By way of example, look at what has happened in the Netherlands. Euthanasia in the Netherlands was legalised in 2001 for mentally competent adults 16+ with unbearable physical pain and no prospect of cure also children aged 12 to 16 with parental consent.
In 2006 the Groeningen protocol enabled euthanasia for infants under one year old with parental consent.
In 2008 unbearable physical pain limitation extended to psychiatric pain.
In 2016 euthanasia for mentally incompetent patients began for dementia patients with an advanced directive.
2016 saw a public debate began about people who lived a complete life and in 2017 a draft law was published for euthanasia on request for people aged 75 and older.
In 2020 a draft law was placed before the Dutch Parliament, which proposed that euthanasia should be available for anyone 55yrs or older. This is also being considered for children under 12yrs who are physically suffering.
In Oregon, USA it has been legal for terminally ill, mentally competent adults to have an “assisted death” since 1997. Dignity in Dying (DiD) formerly the Voluntary Euthanasia Society asserts that “there have been no cases of abuse and the law has not been extended beyond terminally ill adults.
These personal stories beg to differ.
Barbara Wagner Oregon, USA
The 64-year-old woman with lung cancer had been in remission, learned the disease had returned and would likely kill her. Her last hope was a $4,000-a-month drug that her doctor prescribed for her, but the insurance company refused to pay. What the Oregon Health Plan did agree to cover, however, were drugs for physician-assisted death. Those drugs would cost about $50.
“if you want to take the pills, we will help you get that from the doctor, and we will stand there and watch you die. But we won’t give you the medication to live.”
Jeanette Hall Oregon, USA
Diagnosed with cancer in 2000 and told she had six months to a year to live. She knew about the assisted suicide law, and asked her doctor about it, because she didn’t want to suffer. Her doctor encouraged her not to give up, and she decided to fight the disease. She underwent chemotherapy and radiation and 20 years later Jeanette Hall is still alive. “I am so happy to be alive! If my doctor had believed in assisted suicide, I would be dead. Assisted suicide should not be legal”
Kathryn Judson Oregon, USA
She wrote of bringing her seriously ill husband to the doctor in the hope of getting the much-needed help and care he deserves but in a harrowing form of events overheard the Doctor giving her husband a sales pitch for assisted suicide and how much of a burden he must be on his wife.
“I was afraid to leave my husband alone again with doctors and nurses”
Roger Foley Ontario, Canada
Has cerebellar ataxia, a fatal neurological disorder that limits his ability to move his arms and legs. He launched a landmark lawsuit alleging that health officials would not provide him with an assisted home care team of his choosing but instead offered him an assisted death.
“Persons with disabilities have to initiate very lengthy and onerous legal procedures to get their rights recognised,”
