Welsh medical professionals urge rejection of assisted suicide legislation

More than 250 health care professionals in Wales have urged the the Welsh Assembly, known as the Senedd, to reject the legalization of assisted dying.

Key Takeaways:

• 250 medical professionals have urged the Welsh Senedd to reject the UK's Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which would legalize assisted dying.

• The UK's Parliament could overrule the Welsh vote, but doing so has the potential for "political fall-out."

• The letter's signatories say that more needs to be done to improve palliative care, and that legalizing assisted death would put vulnerable populations at increased risk for coercion.

The Backstory:

According to Christian Today, members of the Senedd are poised to vote next week on the UK's Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which could legalize 'assisted dying.'

As the news outlet explains, "Senedd members will be voting on a Legislative Consent Motion (LCM) on 20 January. An LCM is essentially a mechanism for the Senedd to consent - or not - to Westminster legislation that touches on devolved powers, for example, health and social care."

UK's Parliament could overrule the Welsh vote in approving — or disapproving — the legislation, but doing so would likely lead to "political fall-out." The bill has already passed the UK's House of Commons and is currently being considered in the House of Lords.

The Details:

In their open letter, the 250 medical professionals argue that the proposed law is "deeply flawed" and "undermines devolved independence in healthcare and poses unacceptable risks to patient safety and equity."

They also noted that there is a lack of appropriate palliative care available to end-of-life patients — but offering to kill those patients is not the answer.

"We have worked across the nation with vulnerable patients and in under-resourced health and social care services. Those who are distressed as they face a terminal illness deserve better. The inequity in provision of specialist palliative care and hospice beds is well known..." the letter states.

“Currently, people living in a quarter of Wales cannot access a hospice bed. This means they lack real choice," explained Dr. Victoria Wheatley, one of the bill's signatories. "Funding a state-sponsored suicide service without first ensuring comprehensive palliative care is not the right approach for Wales.”

In a statement to the BBC, she stressed the risk such legislation would place on vulnerable populations. "Vulnerable people would be at great risk of having an assisted suicide when they shouldn't do, and the safeguards with that are completely inadequate," she said. 

The signatories also noted that there is a significant risk of coercion when assisted suicide is legal.

"Patients will be eligible to access lethal drugs if they feel a burden or because of a lack of services. Coercion is often covert and difficult to detect, particularly when undue influence comes from family or from a person with authority," they stated.

They also touched on the lack of safeguards within the bill's current iteration:

The oversight within this Bill is inadequate. The panel does not need to see the patient. The MHRA does not need to regulate the drugs. The coroner does not need to review the death. There is no mechanism for independent scrutiny of the assisted dying service, for appeal against panel approval or redress for distressed family members.

The Bottom Line:

Even with adequate 'safeguards' (which are routinely undone years down the road), there is no way to protect vulnerable people from experiencing the fallout that comes with legalized assisted suicide.

When death is an option, it's eventually pushed as the best option, while resources for palliative care and proper treatment remain scarce and underfunded.