Legalising Assisted Dying would be a slippery slope by Gordon Brown

Oct 21, 2021 by Chris Sugden

From The Times. Gordon Brown writes:

[…] the bill to legalise assisted dying gets the balance wrong between individual autonomy and the sanctity of life…A doctor friend of mine has reminded me of the advice of a senior doctor to his newly-appointed junior: “Heal the sick, comfort the dying — and don’t get them mixed up.”……

…If death were to become not just an option but something close to an entitlement through the bureaucratic processes that an act of parliament’s provisions impose, we would, in my view, be altering fundamentally the way we think about mortality. The risk of pressures, however subtle and indirect, on the frail and the vulnerable, who may feel their existence burdensome to others, cannot ever be entirely excluded. And the inevitable erosion of trust in the caring professions — if they were in a position to end life — would be to lose something very precious…

…My fear is that, despite its protections against abuse, an Assisted Dying Act could lead to a slippery slope, and that over time legislators — undoubtedly out of compassion and a desire to avoid suffering — would be unable to resist the erosion of the safeguards against the taking of life.

Read the full article here [£]