The final year of this current Parliament opened today with the Queen's Speech, in the wake of which we expect Lord Falconer's 2013 Assisted Dying Bill to be retabled. In Scotland, Holyrood's Health and Sport Committee are accepting evidence on Margo MacDonald's Assisted Suicide Bill until Friday 6 June. And the ruling of nine Supreme Court justices who sat last December on the Nicklinson case is expected any day now. With more appalling evidence pouring in from abroad, this is one of those weeks when the euthanasia threat is palpable.
Westminster
Lord Falconer's Assisted Dying Bill, first introduced in May 2013, fell at the close of the Parliamentary year last month, but he is set to reintroduce his proposals in coming days, following the State Opening of Parliament. Disability activists have initiated a petition calling on David Cameron to act on his personal opposition to assisted suicide, which we encourage you to sign; debate has been ongoing, and carer Colin Harte's recent radio interview is very much worth listening to.
Holyrood
Following the death of Margo MacDonald in April, the Green MSP Patrick Harvie has assumed responsibility for the Assisted Suicide (Scotland) Bill. The Bill's underlying principles constitute a counsel of despair, while a meeting of lawyers in Scotland recently agreed that 'the Bill as drafted... would be unworkable'. The Health and Sport committee are taking evidence until 6 June: read the call for evidence here, CNK's submission here and our brief overview of the bill here.
Supreme Court
Despite most Supreme Court rulings being handed down around three months after the relevant hearing, the nine justices who heard the appeals in the cases of Nicklinson/Lamb and 'Martin' are yet to rule five and a half months on. This, it is to be hoped, is a sign that the gravity of the cases is being fully acknowledged. The ruling's delivery will bestreamed live online; until we know when, remind yourself of some of the key questions.
Foreign news
Reports last week suggest that Belgian euthanasia deaths rose 26.8% in 2013 to 1,816, representing five people every day having their lives ended, and a Brussels nurse has recently written of 'what really happens in Belgium's healthcare system with euthanasia'. The head of the regulatory commission, Wim Distelmans, who is already the subject of high profile official complaints, has sparked controversy by announcing an instructional tour of Auschwitz. If you are concerned about the situation in Belgium, please sign EPC Europe's petition calling for the suspension of the euthanasia law there.
In Switzerland, meanwhile, extraordinary cases of non-terminally/chronically ill patients undergoing assisted suicide are increasingly becoming part of standard practice. EXIT, one of the more prominent assisted suicide organisations, has recently announced that it will now accept non-terminally ill elderly people, in a worrying but sadly unsurprising move.
Care
Our Campaign Director, Dr Peter Saunders, raised over £5,000 for Help the Hospices running the London Marathon - you can still donate here. A number of very positive reports have highlighted the value and dynamism of care for those with terminal and progressive conditions, including a BBC feature on hospice care and press coverage given to a new initiative concerning dementia.
There have however been less agreeable reports concerning failings in care for elderly and dying people, further carelesscelebrity endorsements of euthanasia and evidence of a need for more frank discussion of death and dying. A challenge for all of us is: how do we build up a culture of care which not only responds to the needs and rightful expectations of those around us but which also guards against attempts to offer death as a 'sensible alternative'?
In a foreword to a recent photo project featuring dying people, Alain de Botton wrote: 'The dying are the great appreciators... They notice the value of the sunshine on a spring afternoon, a few minutes with a grandchild, another breath… And they know what spoilt ingrates we are, not stopping to register the wonder of every passing minute. They were once like us of course. They wasted decades but now they are in a position to know of their folly and warn us of our own.'
For Rosa Monckton, patron of Together for Short Lives (the umbrella organisation for children's palliative care), charity fundraiser Stephen Sutton was the epitome of de Botton's idea, and an example to us all.
What can you do?
Events
Marie Curie and Disability Rights UK are holding a focus group looking into what happens to people with a disability when they need end of life care. (Monday 9 June, Edinburgh)
A performance of the Edinburgh Fringe-acclaimed 'Killing Roger' at the Greenwich Theatre on 17 June will be preceded by a debate on 'assisted dying'; Professor of Palliative Medicine Dr Paddy Stone and academic Dr Kevin Yuill will speak to our point of view. (London)
Support
Head to the CNK website for suggestions on how to become more actively involved - be especially sure to check our 'Live Issues' page - and follow us on Facebook orTwitter. CNK continues to be grateful for every donation.
Speak up
Please keep writing your comments online in response to articles in the media, and engage in discussions and write letters to newspapers and politicians with your views. Medical supporters can write to the BMJ and other and medical journals.
Speak out
Our spokespeople have been making our case across the country, in the media, debates and at events. Could you speak out for 'care, not killing'?
Personal Stories
As the risks of any weakening in the law in relation to assisted suicide become increasingly highlighted, a number of you are writing to the Care Not Killing Alliance with your own experience of why you feel the law is best kept as it is. Send us your own story to info@carenotkilling.org.uk. Please include whether or not you are happy for your story to feature on our website, and visit our Personal Stories page.
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