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Disabled people oppose euthanasia on Isle of Man
London, 9 September 2003--Legalising euthanasia on the Isle of Man would compromise the right to life of disabled and sick people and further undermine their dignity and status, according to a disability rights group. The submission by No Less Human to the House of Keys' select
committee on voluntary euthanasia says: "Vulnerable people deserve
better than being told that death is in the best interests of those who
suffer. What we need is help to live with dignity, until we die
naturally."
No Less Human asserts that it is fundamentally wrong to kill
vulnerable people, whether or not they have requested death. Those who
are terminally ill or incurably disabled should be treated using the
same ethical code as would be applied to any other person.
Alison Davis, the submission's author, said: "People use the
principle of autonomy as a justification for voluntary euthanasia.
However, such freedom to make decisions entails a responsibility to act
ethically, and euthanasia is deeply unethical." The submission states:
"Compassion does not mean simply giving people what they want, or say
they want, or what others think they ought to want."
The submission points out how the interpretation of what is in
patients' best interests has changed in recent years. The expression
once meant preserving life, maintaining or restoring health and
minimising suffering. However, best interests are now also being
interpreted as including patients' wishes and feelings. This is
dangerous because suicidally depressed people can wish they were dead
even though dying is not in their best interests.
No Less Human also points how doctors' duty to act in their
patients' true best interests can never include deliberately killing
them. The submission states that, while attempted suicide has been
decriminalised, there is no legal right to suicide. The 1998 Human
Rights Act protects everyone's right to life and it is false to argue
that there is a corresponding right to die.
The document warns that safeguards in any law allowing
euthanasia would not protect the vulnerable. It points out that, in the
Netherlands, where euthanasia was legalised in January of last year,
mentally disabled people are particularly vulnerable to euthanasia
decisions.
The group challenges the idea of death with dignity.
Describing cases of people with motor neurone disease who have
requested help to end their lives, the submission states: "With proper
palliative care, including all necessary hospice support, the choice is
between deliberate killing and a peaceful, truly dignified death made
as pain free as possible by experts in pain control."
It also points out that, in most cases of euthanasia in the
Netherlands, pain is not the main reason for patients' asking to die. A
hospice doctor has estimated that at least 95% of physical pain can be
completely and easily relieved and all patients can be helped in some
way.
Alison Davis has spina bifida, emphysema and osteoporosis, and
uses a wheelchair full time. She suffers considerable pain and was
suicidal until friends gave her hope. She writes in the submission:
"What has changed is not my medical condition, but my outlook on life."
No Less Human is a group for disabled people, their families
and carers, and is part of the Society for the Protection of Unborn
Children. Alison Davis, the author of the submission, can be telephoned
on (01258) 837546.
No Less Human's submission to the House of Keys' select committee on voluntary euthanasia is on the world-wide web at www.spuc.org.uk/nlh/IoMeuthanasia.pdf.
