DEFEAT OF ASSISTED SUICIDE BILL WELCOMED BY FIONA BRUCE MP
Fiona
Bruce MP welcomed the House of Commons decisive rejection of assisted suicide,
following a 330 votes to 118 defeat
of the Assisted Dying (No 2) Bill. The result was also welcomed by disability
rights groups and doctors organisations, which had opposed the change in the
law.
Describing
the result as a victory for the vulnerable, Fiona Bruce MP said there should
now be a greater extension of high-quality palliative care, calling for
‘assisted living not assisted dying’, and calling on Parliament to support the Access to Palliative Care Bill, which
has been brought forward by Prof Illora Finlay, past president of the British
Medical Association. She said that ‘better palliative care is the answer of the
future. Euthanasia is the answer of the past.’
Speaking
after the debate, Fiona Bruce MP said:
‘Parliament has made its voice clearly
heard today, as MPs from across the parties voted down the Assisted Dying (No
2) Bill. The most vulnerable, as well as the Courts, now have absolute clarity
that assisted suicide is not the route this country will go down. That is a
victory for the vulnerable, not least the many disabled people who have
campaigned so passionately against this dangerous Bill. This Bill proposed that
suicide was sometimes an answer, and that we should sometimes respond to a
person’s suicidal feelings with a lethal injection. That is against everything
that our healthcare system is built on regarding the value of life and protecting the
vulnerable, and would have been a backward step in an age where we are finally
beginning to properly
tackle issues of mental health.’
‘The Commons vote represented a truly
compassionate affirmation by MPs of the safeguards that exist in law to
successfully protect patients in a vulnerable position from undue pressure to
end their lives. It defends the essential truth that there are better answers to the
suffering of the terminally-ill than helping them to kill themselves. Doctors
from places, like Oregon and the Netherlands, where euthanasia is legal, warned
the UK not to make the same mistake – and Parliament has heeded their warnings.’
‘Our focus must be on improving the standard and the availability
of palliative care to
all
patients who need it.
The ‘Access to Palliative Care’ Bill proposed by Lady Finlay of Llandaff, a
leading palliative care expert and immediate past President of the British
Medical Association, is the best opportunity for progressive reform in this
area, and truly worthy of Parliamentary support.’
·
The legalisation of assisted suicide is
opposed the Royal Colleges of Physicians, General Practitioners, and Surgeons,
the British and World Medical Associations, elderly and disabled organisations,
and right-to-life advocates.
·
It was revealed earlier this week by
polling experts that suggestions by the lobby group Dignity in Dying’s that 82%
of people supported a change in the law were deeply flawed.
·
Prof Finlay’s Access to Palliative Care
Bill is currently awaiting its 2nd Reading. Further details can be found
here: http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2015-16/accesstopalliativecare.html
