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 2005 and 2019 in 51 countries by comparing the ratios of palliative care services per 100,000 inhabitants.
The study concludes that forty-two countries (82%) increased the number of specialized services between 2005 and 2019. However, the average growth in palliative care services has stalled in countries where assisted dying is legal compared with countries without assisted dying. Notably, Belgium and the Netherlands experienced no growth in palliative care services from 2012 to 2019
While assisted suicide advocates propone that its legalisation is compatible with palliative care, this data should heed warning as it makes evident that the legalisation of assisted dying could significantly detract from the development of palliative care in the UK.