Doctors intervened to assist more than 30,000 people to die last year around the world, marking a record high for cases of assisted suicide/dying and euthanasia in countries where the practises are legal.
The findings come from a data analysis report conducted by the <em>Daily Telegraph</em> ahead of a UK vote on legalising assisted dying on Friday, 29 November, when the Second Reading of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is scheduled in Parliament.
The most notable increases across the globe have been recorded in countries where assisted suicide/dying and euthanasia have been made legal, after changes to the law, including the Netherlands, Belgium, the US states of California and Oregon, and Canada.
As many as one in 20 deaths are now attributable to assisted dying in some countries, according to the <em>Telegraph’s</em> analysis, with deaths from euthanasia/assisted dying in Europe and Canada having leapt by almost 25 per cent in just 12 months, according to <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/01/20/euthanasia-deaths-europe-raise-fears-legalisation-britain/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">another report</mark></a>.
Assisted suicide/dying involves giving patients the means to end their own life, usually in the form of lethal drugs, while euthanasia is carried out by a doctor, usually involving a lethal injection.
Even though legislation was passed in some countries decades ago, the numbers of relatable deaths are still rising, partly because the initially strict rules have been subsequently loosened and the procedures made more widely available, including to children, the <em>Telegraph</em> notes.
This sort of "mission creep" occurring is one of the main fears of critics – <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/faith-leaders-unite-against-assisted-suicide-bill/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">especially the Catholic Church</mark></a> – of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill that, if passed, will apply to England and Wales. A similar bill is being debated in Scotland.
Under the Bill being considered by the UK Parliament, a doctor must prepare the lethal substance though the person must take it. In addition to needing to be at least 18 years old, to qualify for the process a person must also be mentally competent, expected to die within six months while two independent doctors and a judge must be satisfied that the individual has “expressed a clear, settled, informed and independent wish to die”, states the <em>Telegraph</em>.
It notes a spokesman for Dignity in Dying, a pro-assisted dying campaigning group, arguing that the Bill would be an important "sea change" from the current situation, “where no safety measures exist”.
The spokesperson also notes: “No assisted dying law has been repealed, because the laws work exactly as intended to give dying people the choice they need."
He adds: "Some countries have introduced laws which had broader eligibility criteria from the outset. They are not comparable to proposals being considered across the British Isles.”
But innumerable critics of the Bill fear and warn that legalising assisted suicide/dying in Britain can only create a veritable slippery slope – <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/prof-john-keown-the-assisted-suicide-bill-is-incoherent-unworkable-and-dangerous/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">replicating what happened with the legalisation of abortion</mark></a> – leading to more deaths as restrictions are eventually loosened to include increasing numbers of people qualifying for a wider spectrum of reasons, such as the likes of depression, mental illness, anorexia and dementia.<br><br>Once the previous taboo around seeking death is broken by such a fundamental change in the law, societal mind sets and public opinions gradually and inexorably shift, campaigners against the Bill along with those in the Church have warned. As a result, safeguarding regulations are later more easily relaxed to further expand the practise – assisting ever increasing numbers of people to kill themselves or to be killed.
The supposed safeguards in the Bill being considered by the UK Parliament have been heavily criticised as <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/there-are-no-safeguards-palliative-care-professor-ilora-finlay-on-the-many-dangers-of-assisted-suicide-bill/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">not being fit for purpose</mark></a>, and no securer than safeguarding efforts elsewhere that have failed.
<a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/the-evidence-shows-that-assisted-suicide-and-euthanasia-safeguards-simply-do-not-work/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color"><em><strong>RELATED: The evidence shows that assisted suicide and euthanasia ‘safeguards’ simply do not work</strong></em></mark></a>
Dr Gordon MacDonald, the chief executive of Care Not Killing, tells the <em>Telegraph</em>: “These figures show once you legalise assisted suicide or euthanasia, the numbers of those being killed and the reasons why, only ever go in one direction.
“It’s not just Canada where we see problems. In the Netherlands and Belgium, we have seen a massive expansion of who can be euthanised. Chillingly, this includes non-mentally competent adults, people with mental health problems and even young children and disabled babies."
He highlights that in Oregon, which has served as the model for the legislation being debated in the House of Commons, it is now the case that "arthritis, diabetes and anorexia are all considered terminal conditions and people with them have successfully obtained the death row drugs from the state to kill themselves".
A recent <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/faith-leaders-unite-against-assisted-suicide-bill/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">joint letter from the UK’s religious leaders</mark></a> opposing the assisted suicide Bill – including the signature of Cardinal Vincent Nichols representing Catholics in England and Wales – notes that in the UK it is estimated that 2.7 million older people have been subjected to abuse, and that many of these may also be vulnerable to pressure to end their lives prematurely.
The letter goes on to note: “Disability campaigners and those working with women in abusive relationships have also highlighted the danger of unintended consequences should the law be changed.
“The experience of jurisdictions which have introduced similar legislation, such as Oregon and Canada, demonstrate how tragic these unintended consequences can be.
“Promised safeguards have not always protected the vulnerable and marginalised. Even when surrounded by loving family and friends, people towards the end of their life can still feel like a burden.
"This is especially the case while adult social care remains underfunded. In this environment, it is easy to see how a ‘right to die’ could all too easily end in feeling you have a duty to die.
“We are convinced that the current law provides much greater security for those who are vulnerable than the Bill before Parliament.
“The most effective safeguard against life-threatening coercion or abuse is to keep the law as it is," the letter concludes.
<a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/letters-in-belgium-euthanasia-is-so-out-of-control-we-are-killing-depressed-teenagers/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color"><strong><em>RELATED: Euthanasia in Belgium ‘is so out of control we are killing depressed teenagers’</em></strong></mark></a>
<em>Photo: Bar chart showing figures from </em>Daily Telegraph<em> analysis of 17 countries or territories (2023 excludes Spain and Luxembourg as they have not supplied figures; Canada's 2023 figure is based on estimates from the states who supplied figures); screenshot from <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/26/assisted-dying-hits-record-high-deaths-rise-30000-in-year/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">telegraph.co.uk</mark></a>. </em>
