Bishop James Jones on Assisted Dying bill
Letter to The Times:
Sir, Those wishing parliament to change the law on assisted dying out of compassion assume that the actions of the state are always benign, but the widespread and devastating way that professionals including clinicians have patronised and harmed ordinary citizens undermines such confidence. The infected blood episodes, Hillsborough, the Gosport War Memorial Hospital, the Mid-Staffs Hospital, Grenfell Tower, the pandemic, the maternity care services and the Post Office Horizon scandal raise disturbing concerns about the treatment of ordinary people by servants of the state.
Changing the law will make us more vulnerable, especially the physically and mentally disabled and the terminally ill when they find themselves at the mercy of unscrupulous beneficiaries of their dying and in the hands of indifferent professionals who will be given greater powers over life and death. The state should value and invest in our humanity right up to a pain-free death instead of encouraging a culture that devalues life.
The Right Rev James Jones
Chair of the Hillsborough Independent Panel, and of the Gosport Independent Panel
Letter to the Times (£) October 17
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