From The Disability News Service.........
Disabled people ‘plead for our lives’ in front of MPs and peers, as assisted suicide bill ends key stage
By John Pring on 27th March 2025
Disabled people with progressive and terminal conditions have come to parliament to “plead for our lives” in front of MPs and peers, as a bill to legalise assisted suicide in England and Wales finishes a key stage in the Commons.
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From The Guardian newspaper.........
Assisted dying could become ‘tool’ to harm women in England and Wales, say faith leaders
Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Sikh women say bill has ‘insufficient safeguards’ to protect those who are vulnerable.
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From Sky News.........
Isle of Man to become first of British Isles to legalise assisted dying
The Assisted Dying Bill needs royal assent before it becomes law. It would see adults who have resided on the Isle of Man for five years and who have a terminal illness with a life expectancy of no more than 12 months being allowed to use the service.
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From the BBC........
By Fergus Walsh
BBC Medical Editor
14th may 2024
The right for terminally ill people on the Isle of Man to be helped to die could be a step closer after crucial votes in its parliament on Tuesday.
Members will debate whether lethal drugs should be self-administered or given to those eligible by doctors.
The island could become the first part of the British Isles to pass assisted-dying legislation.
If royal assent is received next year, its first assisted death could come as soon as 2027.
Another crown dependency, Jersey, is set to vote on proposals next week, although it has yet to introduce a bill. Both islands set their own laws.
Dr Alex Allinson, a politician and doctor, introduced the private members' bill at Tynwald, the Isle of Man parliament.
He told the BBC that "fewer than a dozen" people a year would be expected to opt for an assisted death, which was now "a step closer" to becoming reality.
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From the Daily mail.......
The number of assisted suicides in Oregon jumped by a fifth to 367 deaths last year, with ever more people facing vomiting and other complications, and one patient who took nearly a week to die.
Those who chose to end their lives in Oregon were overwhelmingly white and elderly — 82 percent of them were aged 65 and above.
Most often, DWDA recipients suffered from cancer (66 percent), followed by brain disease (11 percent) and heart disease (10 percent).
Fully 92 percent of them said they wanted to die because their condition would see them lose autonomy
Many said they were worried about life becoming less enjoyable (88 percent), loss of dignity (64 percent), and loss of bodily control (47 percent).
A worrying 43 percent said they were concerned about becoming a burden on loved ones.
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From the Guardian
UK membership of Dignitas, the Swiss assisted dying association, has jumped to 1,900 people – a 24% rise during 2023 – as an assisted dying bill is laid before the Scottish parliament.
People from the UK now make up the second largest group who have signed up to the organisation, which is based near Zurich and helps people take their own lives. The largest group is currently Germans, although they can now get help to end their lives at home after a 2020 court ruling.
Alistair Thompson, spokesperson for Care Not Killing, which campaigns against the legalisation of assisted dying, said that the surge in membership was partially caused by the widening view that the NHS was in crisis, that the hospice movement was financially struggling and that “we are still failing to ensure the availability of good quality palliative care”.
