Archbishop John Sherrington of Liverpool has joined professional medical bodies in stating that the Bill which seeks to introduce assisted suicide “does not contain sufficient safeguards against coercion or protect vulnerable people”. Calling the practice wrong in principle, he also noted that disabled people, those with eating disorders and victims of domestic abuse could be particularly vulnerable if it were to be introduced.
The debate, which has dominated discourse since the Bill was reintroduced, has also drawn attention to what many have called a problematic lack of funding for palliative care in the UK, prompting calls for greater priority to be given to it instead.
