Date: Thursday 2nd May 2025
Release time: Immediate
Care Not Killing responds to the publication of the impact assessments for Kim Leadbeater’s assisted suicide bill
Responding to the publication of the impact assessments for Kim Leadbeater’s assisted suicide bill, Dr Gordon Macdonald, CEO of Care Not Killing commented:
“We will be reviewing the text very carefully and publishing a detailed response next week, but upon initial inspection, it confirms that changing the law will save money, both health care costs (up to £59.6 million) and a reduction in benefit payments (unquantified). Exactly as we have seen in other jurisdictions which have introduced state assisted killing, placing pressure on vulnerable terminally ill people to end their lives.
“Indeed, in the US State of Oregon, the model for the current bill in Parliament, a majority of those ending their lives cite fear of being a burden on their families, carers or finances as a reason for their decision. In Canada, politicians have talked about the considerable savings made to regional health care budgets since introducing euthanasia, with some estimates suggesting up to $500 million (CAD), regrettably this includes removing funding from a hospice that refused to kill their patients. While in Holland, not only have the Dutch saved money, but chillingly, they talked about how this policy also increases the availability of organs for transplant, something Dr David Shaw and Professor Alec Morton, two British academics argued for in 2020.”
Dr Macdonald concluded:
“At a time when we have seen how fragile our cash strapped health care system is, how the hospice movement has a £150 million blackhole in its budget, and when up to one in four Brits who would benefit from palliative care but aren’t currently receiving it, introducing so-called assisted dying would be an incredibly dangerous policy that would put pressure on vulnerable, elderly and disabled people to end their lives prematurely. We need to fix the UK’s broken and patchy palliative care system so everyone can have a dignified death. We need better care not killing.”
For media inquiries, please call Alistair Thompson or Team Britannia PR on 07970 162225.
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Editors Notes
The two impact assessments can be found here: https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3774/publications
