Fiona
Bruce MP responds to news of proposed Private Members Bill on Assisted Suicide
Following
today’s announcement that Rob Marris MP for Wolverhampton South West will bring
forward a Private Members Bill Ballot in an attempt to overturn the ban on
Assisted Suicide, Fiona Bruce, Chair of
the Parliamentary All Party Pro-Life Group said today:
“I am confident that
Members of Parliament will vigorously oppose and reject efforts to legalise
Assisted Suicide, as was clearly shown to be the case the last time this was
debated at length in the House of Commons, in 2012.
Such proposals threaten
the lives of the frail, elderly and disabled, as evidence from other countries
shows, where many choose to take lethal drugs or a lethal injection because
they see themselves as an unwanted burden.
What is needed is in such
circumstances is care, practical help and support, both for the individual – in
what is often the most vulnerable of situations – as well as for their family
and friends.
Britain leads the world in
palliative care, and this Bill will give an opportunity to press for this to be
even better – that will be the most compassionate response to this Bill.”
In
2012, Fiona Bruce led a group of MPs who effectively challenged the effort by
the then MP for Croydon South, Richard Ottaway, to test the will of the House
of Commons to change the law on Assisted Suicide then.
Speaking at the time Fiona
Bruce MP said “We are delighted that the House has sent
such a clear message that improving specialist palliative and hospice care is a
priority and that assisted suicide is not the route we wish to take as a
society.”
Fiona Bruce added today:
“What we should be
focussing on is the wonderful pioneering work in palliative care and dying well
being undertaken by organisations such as St Luke's Hospice in Cheshire,
helping people to support family members and friends to pass away in a peaceful,
loving and caring environment.
How to best support those
we love to have a "good death " at home and in our local communities
is something we can all learn more about and is the best antidote
to travelling abroad to an impersonal foreign clinic. It is a tragedy that so
much publicity has been given to the Dignitas Clinic in Switzerland which
portrays in such a negative way the doctor patient relationship. I do not
believe that such clinics are the way forward here, nor what people want. A
lethal injection is no substitute for a good death where pain is alleviated and
the best possible care provided. No one should feel they are a burden or that
they have a duty to die."
The
proposals to be brought forward by Rob Marris MP would allow patients thought
to have no more than 6 months to live and who have demonstrated a ‘clear and
settled intention’ to end their lives to be prescribed a lethal dose of drugs
on the authority of two doctors.
The last time
this was debated in the House of Commons 27th March 2012 where MPs
rejected an amendment to change the law and approved Fiona Bruce’s amendment
for greater emphasis on palliative care – http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201212/cmhansrd/cm120327/debtext/120327-0002.htm#12032752001212
Photo shows
Fiona Bruce, Vice President of St Luke’s (Cheshire) Hospice, with (right)
Siobhan Horton, Director of Clinical Services and (left) Rachel Zammit, Head of
Public Health and Wellbeing, The End of Life Partnership
