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APPG on Dying Well Event 16.04.2024
The APPG on Dying Well looks forward to its next event after Easter recess on Tuesday 16th April at 5:30PM in Room M of Portcullis House (hybrid event). We look forward to hearing from Dr Trudo Lemmens about his hesitation around normalising 'assisted dying', drawing...
Health and Social Care Committee Report on Assisted Dying/Assisted Suicide (AD/AS)
After a 14-month long inquiry, the Health and Social Care Committee have released their report on euthanasia/assisted suicide, for which they use the term ‘assisted dying/assisted suicide’ (AD/AS). The Committee explored how AD/AS operates in other countries. They...
Euthanasia Introduction in Victoria Fails to Reduce Suicide Rates
New research shows that suicide rates amongst over-65s in Victoria, Australia, have been increasing- despite claims that legalising VAD would have the opposite effect. A recent paper by the Journal of Ethics in Mental Health discusses a prominent argument used in the...
Summary of APPG – 08.11.23
The APPG for Dying Well hosted a public event on Wednesday 8th November in the House of Lords, titled, 'Why 'assisted suicide' harms the vulnerable and does not end suffering'. Speakers from various jurisdictions who have either legalised, or are considering...
Canada’s Continuous Expansion of MAiD: a Terrifying Prospect
Canada's recent decision to expand MAiD, coming into effect in March 2024, will mean that those suffering solely from mental health issues will be given the green light to request death- a terrifying prospect for so many. In 2016, Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD)...
Doctors Reject Assisted Suicide on the Isle of Man
A recent survey conducted by the Isle of Man Medical Society has found that 74% of doctors are against any change to the existing assisted suicide legislation. Despite various questionable polls suggesting that support for assisted dying, more accurately termed...
Oregon Death With Dignity Act- 25 Years On
Please find the full British Medical Journal article available to view and download here. There are critical gaps in the data provided on doctor-assisted deaths in Oregon, USA, amid rising numbers of participants, finds a review of the process over the past 25 years,...
APPG on Dying Well Event 08.11.23
The APPG on Dying Well would like to invite you to its public meeting on Wednesday 8th November at 11AM in Committee Room 3A of the House of Lords (hybrid event). This event’s principal focus is on ‘Why “assisted suicide” harms the vulnerable and does not end...
Summary of AGM and APPG- 21.06.2023
The AGM unanimously re-elected Danny Kruger MP and Baroness Finlay as Co-Chairs, and Sir Stephen Timms MP as Vice-Chair. Mary Glindon MP was elected as an officer for the first time. Dr David Randall from Our Duty Of Care (ODOC) then gave the APPG an update on the...
APPG for Dying Well Event 30.01.23
I am writing to you as Chair of the APPG for Dying Well about an upcoming hybrid event on Monday 30th January 4:30-5:30 GMT in Committee Room 1 in the House of Lords. In light of the recently opened assisted suicide inquiry by...
Next APPG Meeting 23rd May
The next meeting of the APPG on Dying Well will take place on Monday 23rd May at 17:00-18:00. The meeting is entitled “Lessons from Canada: Evidence from Palliative Care, Psychiatry and Law”, focussing on the experience of Canada in relation to the problems and...
WATCH: What does the Oregon data tell us?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R3_TML6xhk
Next APPG meeting: What does the Oregon data tell us?
The APPG on Dying Well promotes access to excellent palliative care and stands against the legalisation of assisted suicide in the UK. We are holding a meeting online on Monday 25th April at 5pm. In our next meeting we will be hearing about what the Oregon data...
Press Release – House of Lords votes to reject proposals for Assisted Suicide
The House of Lords has tonight voted to reject Lord Forsyth’s proposals for a Bill to legalise assisted suicide by 179 votes to 145 votes in a landmark vote. Lords-Win-PR-1Download
When assisted suicide is legalised, development of palliative care stalls
Research published in the journal Palliative Medicine shows that palliative care development has stalled in countries where assisted suicide and euthanasia is legal. The study conducted by Natalia Arias-Casais and Colleagues analyses palliative care provision between...
Study shows negative impact of MAID on palliative care in Canada
A study conducted by a group of physicians in Canada reveals the detrimental impact that the legalisation of assisted suicide has on palliative care. In their 2020 qualitative study, Matthews and Colleagues interviewed palliative care physicians and nurses who...
The myth of autonomy and assisted suicide
In cases of assisted suicide, do patients really have rational autonomy? In their recent article in The Psychiatric Times, Psychiatrists Dr. Ronald Pies and Dr. Cynthia Geppert challenge the commonly-held belief that patients who request assisted suicide are acting...
Assisted Suicide is “not an instantly lethal injection, but an overdose of common drugs that can take hours or days to kill”
In considering the legalisation of Assisted Suicide in Britain, it is not only the ethical implications of such legislation that must be considered but also the physical details of what it really means to be 'assisted' to die. In this regard, journalist David Rose has...
“I have a progressive condition myself, and I believe the assisted dying bill would harm far more people than it would help”
As someone with a progressive condition herself, Baroness Jane Campbell writes in The Guardian that she can sympathise with those who support the assisted suicide bill out of fear of pain and suffering. She writes, "I’ve been close to death many times because my...
Journalist reports, there are no safeguards when it comes to assisted suicide
Last week, Melanie McDonagh wrote in The Spectator that there are no safeguards when it comes to assisted suicide and euthanasia. After listening to Baroness Meacher's interview on BBC radio Today, in which she admitted that while some old people may want to die...
Palliative medicine consultant says Meacher bill provides no reliable safeguards against abuse
Dr. Carol Davis, a palliative care consultant and senior lecturer at the University of Southampton, writes of the dangerous implications of legalising assisted suicide in Unheard. Dr. Davis reveals that the legalisation of assisted suicide has been detrimental to...
Doctors warn that assisted suicide bill threatens end of life care
This week, several palliative medicine doctors and academics have written to The Times of their concern regarding the Meacher Bill and its aim to legalise assisted suicide. Signatories include Dr Carol Davis, a consultant in palliative medicine at University Hospital...
Press Release: Outcome of the Second Reading of the Assisted Dying Bill
The Assisted Dying Bill proceeded from its Second Reading in the House of Lords today - in spite of over 60 Peers speaking to oppose the Bill - as is convention. It is the accepted custom of the House of Lords for Bills to move to Committee Stage without a division....
Press release: Statement on demonstrations outside Parliament
On Monday we asked the campaign group promoting Baroness Meacher’s Assisted Dying Bill to join us in discouraging demonstrations outside Parliament during tomorrow’s Lords debate. This is because the issue particularly affects elderly and disabled people who are at...
Canadian Physician says ‘Assisted Dying Destroys Hope’
In an open letter to the House of Lords, Dr. Paul Saba, a Canadian family physician writes, "As the United Kingdom House of Lords debates the legalization of assisted dying, as a family physician from Montreal, Canada, I want to warn the British not to go down this...
Any jurisdiction which legalises assisted suicide endorses the view that the incurably ill are a burden, writes Lord Moore
Lord Moore of Etchingham has written in the Telegraph that, despite the understandable intentions of those who wish to legalise assisted suicide, the law must not change in order to protect the vulnerable and preserve the importance of care in our society. Lord Moore...
Nearly 1700 doctors take a stand against assisted suicide
Nearly 1700 doctors have written to Health Secretary Sajid Javid to oppose the legalisation of assisted suicide. The letter states that the refuse to take the lives of their patients, and for the sake of doctors and patients throughout the country ask that the law...
Don’t protest assisted suicide says APPG
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Dying Well – which is leading the campaign against assisted suicide in Parliament – has today issued a call to its supporters asking them not to protest the Second Reading debate of Baroness Meacher’s Bill on Friday. The group has...
Disabled People and Assisted Dying
Assisted suicide proponents have made several claims about assisted dying and disability in attempts to suggest that disabled persons support a change in the law and such legislation would be compatible with respect and support for the disabled community. The reality...
Brother of Peter Farquhar pleads MPs and peers to vote against Assisted Dying Bill
The brother of Peter Farquhar, who was murdered by a churchwarden to inherit his estate, has written to MPs warning that Assisted Dying laws would put vulnerable people at an increased risk of coercion, fraud and abuse. Peter Farquhar was slowly poisoned by Ben Field,...
Lord Howard and Danny Kruger MP- The dangers of Baroness Meacher’s Assisted Dying Bill
Baroness Meacher's Assisted Dying Bill proposes to license doctors to supply lethal drugs to terminally ill patients who are thought to have six months or less to live, and who seem to them to meet broadly worded conditions. In their letter to Parliamentarians, Rt Hon...
Lord Hunt- Assisted dying will always be open to bullying and exploitation
In his recent article in The Telegraph, Lord Hunt reflects on the legalisation of assisted suicide following the difficult experience of his mother's death. Over the several weeks in which he watched his mother's life come to an end slowly and painfully, he writes...
Journalist reports Assisted Suicide is the opposite of death with dignity
Assisted suicide advocates propagate the myth that only a lethal cocktail of drugs can deliver a beautiful and serene death. However, the reality is that assisted suicide is often neither painless nor dignified. Journalist Simon Caldwell writes that, although some...
Oxford ethicist says, “Don’t let the assisted-suicide lobby hijack ‘dignity’”
James Mumford, visiting fellow at the McDonald Centre at Oxford University, argues that the assisted suicide debate is a contest over the meaning of this word: 'dignity'. This term is used again and again within assisted suicide organisations and legislation...
Covid and the cynical betrayal of the elderly
In his latest article, Simon Caldwell discusses how the Covid-19 pandemic exposed deep and disturbing prejudices against the elderly, disabled, and seriously ill. Such prejudices, he says, should present a warning to society of potential future threats to vulnerable...
Assisted suicide is neither painless nor dignified
Dr Joel Zivot, an associate professor of anaesthesiology and surgery at the Emory School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia, uses his medical expertise to discuss the reality of assisted suicide in his recent article in The Spectator. While proponents of assisted suicide...
Danny Kruger, MP- There’s a better way of dying than assisted suicide
Writing in The Times, Chair of the APPG for Dying Well, Danny Kruger MP, says assisted suicide is not the solution to suffering at the end of life. While assisted suicide is portrayed by its advocates as a peaceful, painless way to die, in jurisdictions were assisted...
Miro Griffiths- Assisted dying would undermine the fight for equality
Miro Griffiths, Leverhulme Research Fellow in Disability Studies at the University of Leeds, writes in The Press and Journal that assisted dying would undermine existing disability policy and legislative frameworks that aspire to protect disabled people's rights....
The impact on general practice of prescribing assisted dying drugs
Writing in the BJGP Life, Dr Claud Regnard, Honorary Consultant in Palliative Care Medicine at St Oswold’s Hospice in Newcastle, and colleagues discuss the safety and efficacy of the drugs used for assisted suicide. It is not clear which drug or drug combination is...
Responding to the BMA vote on Assisted Suicide
Responding to the BMA vote on assisted suicide, Danny Kruger MP, chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Dying Well, said: “That even the most activist doctors group could not muster a majority for neutrality on assisted suicide shows just how unpopular it...
Watch the highlights: APPG 7th September
Last week we ran an APPG meeting focussing on the experiences of doctors in jurisdictions where assisted suicide and euthanasia have been legalised. Watch the highlights here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPePLAj52yw
Survation APPG for Dying Well Survey July 2021
Please find the results of our Survation survey data on assisted suicide, taken in July 2021. Survation-Assisted-Dying-Survey-July-2021-Summary-3Download
WATCH: APPG for Dying Well Meeting 7th September
In our latest meeting we heard about medical professionals’ experience of legalised assisted suicide and euthanasia in Canada, Belgium and Oregon. https://youtu.be/ANS-7P2zcRk
WATCH: Euthanasia, a slippery slope?
Euthanasia, A Slippery Slope’ is a 2020 film by Bruno Aguila. Through interviews with medical professionals working in palliative care, oncology and psychiatry in Belgium, this film examines how assisted suicide and euthanasia is radically changing medical practice....
Next APPG Meeting Tuesday 7th September
The APPG on Dying Well promotes access to excellent palliative care and stands against the legalisation of assisted suicide in the UK. We are holding a meeting online on Tuesday 7th September at 7pm. In our next meeting we will be hearing about medical...
The impact of assisted dying on hospices and palliative care – Dr Claud Regnard
Writing in ehospice Dr Claud Regnard, Honorary Consultant in Palliative Care Medicine at St Oswold's Hospice in Newcastle, said that evidence from jurisdictions where assisted suicide/euthanasia has been legalised show that "access to palliative care remains...
Conrad Black: Canada’s immoral solution to spiralling health-care costs — kill the patients
In an article in the National Post, Conrad Black reminds his readers that assisted suicide is not the answer to expensive health care costs...read more here. If assisted suicide is the only option for those who cannot afford health care costs, it is not a choice at...
WATCH: An Appeal from Dr Miro Griffiths
Dr Miro Griffiths MBE speaks about the grave dangers the Assisted Dying Bill poses to disabled people and implores Parliament to reject it....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3-ZA1C-5mg
MAID in Canada: a radical response to changes in medically assisted dying
By Ailsinn Thomas, Poetry by Jane Shi New legislation in Canada is making it easier than ever to receive medical assistance in dying, but disability activists are sounding the alarm. In light of the Bill C-7 that has been presented in Canada, Jane Shi wrote a striking...
Charles Moore: Assisted suicide, not assisted dying
In The Telegraph, Lord Moore writes: "There is something strange in our culture which resists almost any attempt to kill an animal, yet is increasingly relaxed about killing a human. Next month, Lady Meacher’s Assisted Dying Bill will be debated in the House of Lords....
California Must Reject Efforts to Expand Assisted Suicide | Opinion
Writing in Newsweek, Jose Berrera, State Director for the California League of United Latin American Citizens, said "Assisted suicide is a dangerous public policy that threatens Latinos, people with disabilities, our elders and the most vulnerable in society....
Euthanasia isn’t progressive
Writing in the critic, James Mildred recounts the experience of Tom Mortimer, whose mother was euthanised in Belgium by doctors who had deemed her depression as "untreatable". He points to the undeniable evidence of a slippery slope in other jurisdictions whether...
Disability Quartet tell MPs and peers why assisted suicide bill in unsafe and unsound
Source: Disability News Service https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/disabled-quartet-tell-mps-and-peers-why-assisted-suicide-bill-is-unsafe-and-unsound/
WATCH: APPG for Dying Well Meeting on 15th July
In our latest meeting, three presenters, all of whom are disabled, considered Baroness Meacher's Assisted Dying Private Members Bill from very different perspectives and viewpoints. Each presenter tested the arguments for a change in the current law and whether the...
Delta Hospice Society envisions new private MAiD-free facility
“No government money, no government land, no government interference, and most importantly – no government forced killings!” read the society’s statement on its new plans. In an article for the Western Standard, Lee Harding reports on the Delta Hospice Society's new...
Don’t legalise assisted suicide
James Gillies writes in the critic that "euthanasia leads to a culture of death that endorses suicide". "As a society, we rightly view suicide as an awful tragedy, and something to be prevented at all costs. No citizen should be affirmed in the idea that their life...
Next APPG Meeting 15th July 5pm
We are delighted to invite you to our next online meeting on the 15th July at 5pm. This is an unmissable event and first of its kind, especially those with interests in science and technology, medical innovation, mechanical engineering, human ethics and...
Doctors criticise assisted dying bill in Scotland
Hundreds of health care professionals from various specialities have signed a letter to Health Secretary Humza Yousaf criticising an assisted dying law in Scotland. The letter was sent as part of a campaign by Our Duty of Care (ODOC) and includes signatures from David...
DISCOUNT: Death by Appointment – A Rational Guide to the Assisted Dying Debate
Cambridge Scholars Publishing are offering a 50% discount on ‘Death by Appointment’ which can be redeemed by entering the code DBA50 on the ‘Order Confirmation’ screen at the checkout of the CSP website: ...
WATCH: Secretary of State Matt Hancock at the Dying Well APPG
On Wednesday 16th June 2021, Danny Kruger, Chair of the APPG for Dying Well was joined by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock, Professor Katherine Sleeman, Dr Ian Wilson and Baroness Tanni-Grey Thompson....
Next APPG Meeting on Wednesday 16th June
The APPG on Dying Well promotes access to excellent palliative care and stands against the legalisation of assisted suicide in the UK. We are delighted to invite you to our next online meeting on the 16th June at 5pm in which we will be joined by the Secretary of...
BLOG: Is it possible to make assisted dying laws safe for people with intellectual disabilities or autism?
Author: Irene Tuffrey-Wijine, Professor of Intellectual Disability and Palliative Care Sourced from: http://www.tuffrey-wijne.com/?p=956 My quick answer to that is: If it is, then I have yet to hear about it. Let me explain. Here’s a real-life (or rather, real-death)...
Liberals and atheists can also oppose assisted dying
Sourced: The Economist, Kevin Yuill Back in 2018, Kevin Yuill, lecturer in history at the University of Sunderland in the UK, and author of Assisted Suicide: The Liberal, Humanist Case Against Legalisation, wrote an excellent piece in the Economist arguing that being...
Let’s cut the cr*p about ‘assisted dying’. It’s NOT about pain.
Sourced from: MercatorNet In response to Baroness Meacher's 'Assisted Dying' bill, Michael Cook sets the record straight about the evidence from Oregon... https://mercatornet.com/lets-cut-the-crp-about-assisted-dying-its-not-about-pain/72228/
Suicide is not something to be encouraged or assisted
Source: Politics Home, authored by Baroness Ilora Finlay It may sound compassionate to embed assisted dying practices within health care. But it’s also dangerous. The House of Lords is once again being asked to look at a Private Member’s Bill proposing so-called...
Normalising euthanasia can be dangerous
Author: François Trufin, sourced from MercatorNet A Belgian nurse explains some of his experiences Euthanasia: Searching for the Full Story: Experiences and Insights of Belgian Doctors and Nurses would be a bargain at any price, but it is free to...
Truths and Half Truths about Assisted Dying
Living and Dying Well have recently published a booklet that examines the statements made by the campaigning group Dignity in Dying in answer to a number of ‘key questions’. Truths and Half Truths about Assisted DyingDownload
If you want the right answers it helps to ask the right questions
SIR – Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, has asked for statistics on how many people with “terminal” conditions kill themselves (report, May 1). However, it is unclear how this will “inform a new debate on legalising doctor-assisted suicide in the UK”. Whatever the...
Podcast: Assisted Dying and The Law
This week, Living and Dying Well released their latest podcast in which Robert Preston unpacks how, and why, the current law on 'assisted dying' works. https://youtu.be/Eyav9RVaseA
Letter to the Lord Chancellor signed by 70 MPs and Peers
On 25th April 70 MPs and Peers signed a letter written to the Lord Chancellor, the Rt Hon Robert Buckland QC MP, outlining their concerns about renewed calls to change the law on assisted suicide in the UK. Dear Lord Chancellor, We are writing to you to outline our...
Essay: How France lost her dignity
A civilisation that legalises euthanasia loses all right to respect Michel Houellebecq writes UnHerd's weekend essay in response to a proposal to legalise euthanasia currently being considered by the French National Assembly. Read the full article here.
During the pandemic, Scotland has sought to protect the vulnerable. Legalising assisted suicide would destroy this legacy
Author: Michael Veitch, Parliamentary Officer for CARE for Scotland. There appears to be a near universal consensus that it is only a matter of time before The Scottish Parliament revives attempts to introduce physician-assisted suicide in Scotland. Previous attempts...
Latest Report reveals sharp rise in Oregon deaths from assisted suicide
Sourced from: Living and Dying Well The Oregon Health Authority has published its latest report on the incidence and characteristics of deaths as a result of legalised assisted suicide – that is, as a result of taking lethal drugs supplied by doctors under...
What is the difference between assisted suicide and assisted dying?
Sourced from: CARE Assisted Suicide is where someone helps another person to end their own life. It is illegal in the UK under the Suicide Act 1961 section 2, which states that a person: “who aids, abets, counsels or procures the suicide of another, or an attempt by...
Why should we keep the current law?
Sourced from: CARE What about personal choice? The pro-euthanasia and assisted suicide lobby emphasise the importance of personal choice and autonomy. Shouldn’t patients have the right to end their lives? Dignity in Dying patron, Sir Patrick Stewart has argued...
Build back better with more palliative care, not assisted suicide
Author: Nola Leach That the Government needs to conduct an urgent review of palliative care in England and Wales was brought home forcefully to me by a moving article in the Times in late October. The author, a lady suffering from terminal cancer, explained that she...
Canadian hospice faces lay offs and eviction for refusing euthanasia
Sourced from: Right to Life UK A Canadian hospice has said that it is being forced to lay off clinical staff and faces eviction because those operating the hospice have refused to participate in euthanasia of their patients. The 10-bed Irene Thomas Hospice...
Disability is not a reason to sanction medically assisted dying – UN experts
Sourced from: OHCHR Press Release UN human rights experts expressed alarm at a growing trend to enact legislation enabling access to medically assisted dying based largely on having a disability or disabling conditions, including in old age. “We all accept that it...
Assisted Suicide – is this really a role for doctors?
Sourced from: Living and Dying Well This autumn at its annual conference the British Medical Association will consider whether it should maintain its opposition to what is being called ‘assisted dying’, which in law is assisted suicide The debate will take...
A New Book
A new book has been published which anyone who is interested in understanding the subject of 'assisted dying' - rather than just trading slogans about it - would be well advised to read. The authors are two people (Baroness Ilora Finlay and Robert Preston) who...
Fifty palliative care doctors speak out against introducing assisted suicide
Sourced from: Right to Life UK Over fifty doctors working in palliative medicine and care for dying patients have signed a letter to The Times in opposition to any proposed changes in the assisted suicide law. In the face of continual attempts to legalise...
BMA ‘assisted dying’ poll takeaways
Sourced from: Care Not Killing Beneath the headline grabbing top-line numbers lies a complex picture of medical opinion on the question of whether they should be empowered to end patients’ lives The results of the British Medical Association's membership survey on...
A Grave warning from Canada
Sourced from: Living and Dying Well Three leading palliative care physicians have warned legislators across the world about the dangers of MAID in a new research paper published in the World Medical Journal. In April’s edition of the World Medical...
Polling: A House of Cards
Sourced from: Care Not Killing In 2019 the Populus poll, commissioned by Dignity in Dying (formerly the Voluntary Euthanasia Society), asked respondents: 'Currently it is illegal for a doctor to help someone with a terminal illness to end their life, even if the...