British disability activists say change in UK assisted suicide law "abandons hope"

From The Telegraph in the UK:

People should not be allowed legally to commit suicide just because they are disabled, campaigners have told Keir Starmer, the director of public prosecutions.

In a submission to a consultation on relaxing the rules on assisted suicide - which ends today - a coalition of five disabled groups, said that “to see suicide as the right solution is to abandon hope. Severely ill and terminally ill people do not deserve society to give up on them.”

The group, which is lead by Baroness Campbell (pictured), accused others who were pushing for the change as “seeking to change the law by the back door by creating the impression that those who assist in a suicide will be immune from prosecution”.

Over the past 10 years 100 Britons have travelled to the Dignitas clinic in Switerland to commit suicide. Eight of them were referred for consideration for a prosecution by the DPP.

In one of the cases, Daniel James, who killed himself after becoming paralysed after a rugby accident, Mr Starmer decided that it would be wrong to prosecute his mother who had been punished enough by the experience.

The group, which include the Royal Association for Disabled People, the UK Disabled People’s Council and the National Centre for Disabled Living, said it was clear that she had done “everything in her power to stop him seeking assisted suicide.

“The problem here is that his severe disability was seen as the rationale for his desire for an assisted suicide. The fact that his disability was permanent was seen as justification that his attitude to it was also permanent.

“To put it another way his wish to die was considered acceptable because he was a disabled man. The same desire to die in a non-disabled person of either sex or any age would be considered to be unreasonable and potentially a sign of mental illness.”

They added: “To many people Daniel James’ desire to end his life, whilst wholly undesirable and deeply regrettable for no other reason than that he was a disabled person. The 'understanding’ of a disabled or terminally ill person’s wish to die is deeply demeaning.”

The group said it was “profoundly unhelpful for society to be endorsing or encouraging any disabled person to see their request for assistance to die as reasonable or completely understandable.”

The change to the rules on assisted suicide came after multiple sclerosis sufferer Debbie Purdy. who was seeking clarity on whether her husband would be prosecuted if he helped her travel to a euthanasia clinic in Switzerland in the House of Lords.

Mr Starmer published a check-list which prosecutors could use to decide whether to press charges in September, and invited comments from interested parties. So far 2,000 responses have been received. A final policy will be published by March 10.

Separately, doctors leaders have restated their opposition to any change in the prosecuting rules.

The British Medical Association said in a statement: “It is of central concern to the BMA that the prohibition on assisted suicide is not lifted and that a reduction in the number of suicides is encouraged.”