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UK’s assisted dying campaigners say people deserve control
STORY: Sophie Korevaar has multiple sclerosis, or MS.It’s a disease she says could leave her bedridden in the future with little quality of life.For her it is a constant source of worry.”As it is because there is no assisted dying law, I have to think about the worst case scenario because if I want any power or control, I need to figure out what I’m going to do.”Britain is currently considering a new law that would allow assisted dying in the UK.But as it stands, some conditions, like MS, Parkinson’s and dementia, will be excluded.That’s because they are not typically classified as terminal illnesses.Korevaar wants that rule to be reconsidered.”Illness, it’s like an erosion of self. And it’s a powerlessness. So to give sick people, give suffering people, some degree of control, a very important degree of control over what happens is immensely beneficial.”Lawmakers will vote on the assisted dying bill in November.If passed, the law will allow terminally ill people to choose to end their lives with medical assistance.It is expected to be restricted to mentally competent, terminally ill adults with six months or less left to live. “Like why is why my suffering not good enough? I don’t know. There’s this kind of feeling of if you’re terminally ill, a couple of months to live, that’s the sort of suffering that people are interested in. And people are compassionate about. And I feel, if an assisted death is a compassionate response to that kind of suffering, why is it not a compassionate response to people in unbearable, incurable suffering as well?”Some western countries, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and some U.S. states, already offer a choice to those facing terminal illness. But in the UK, options remain limited. Last year, 40 British people traveled to Swiss clinic Dignitas, which offers assisted dying options to the terminally ill.”I can go to Dignitas, which is expensive and just kind of miserable to sort of die in exile. My partner can’t come because of the legal implications. I’ll be alone. If that’s not my choice, if I choose to basically take my life by my own hand, again, my partner can’t be with me because of the legal implications. It’s a horrible thing to think, and have to have a plan…”Campaigners for assisted dying say public opinion has changed since parliament rejected a change to the law a decade ago. The British Medical Association, which represents doctors, opposed it before changing its stance to neutral in 2021.Opponents have concerns that terminally ill patients could feel pressure to end their lives. Currently, assisting suicide is punishable by up to 14 years in jail.Kim Leadbeater is the lawmaker from Britain’s governing Labour Party who is introducing the assisted dying bill. “I understand that people would want a bill that goes further, but I am nervous about having wide criteria without really stringent parameters, because I think that’s when people really will worry about where the direction of travel is. So as far as I’m concerned, the bill needs to be tight, it needs to be robust and it needs to be just for people with terminal illness.”British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has in the past supported assisted dying. He says politicians will be able to vote next month with their consciences on the matter, rather than along a party line.