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Received this from Alan Holdsworth,via Diane Coleman. Will be sending my own version of this shortly. Perhaps it's time for another equal right to life demo...
Cassie, Johnny -- Hoping to reach DAN, but not sure how?]
I've have been contacted with some urgency by the Care Not Killing coalition organization in the United Kingdom. This coming Tuesday, the UK House of Lords will hear a bill that immunizes people from prosecution for taking "terminally ill" people abroad to suicide clinics (e.g. Dignitas clinics in Switzerland). Dignitas openly assists in the suicides of people who are not terminally ill. Stephen and I have agreed to sign onto the letter below, which we saw for the first time today. We also agreed to share it with other disability groups that might sign on. Time is short, and it appears that the decision to sign on might have a deadline of tomorrow, but Monday may not be too late. They are also still working on getting UK groups to sign on. The first signatory, Baroness Jane Campbell, is a wheelchair user and has been the leader of Not Dead Yet UK, but is resigning from that role due to the demands of her role in the House of Lords. If you are willing to sign on to this letter despite the short notice, please send your name, title and organization name to me at ndycoleman@aol.com and to Peter Saunders at pjs@cmf.org.uk
. Thanks and have a good weekend. --- Diane
Dear Sir,
As leaders of the disabled people’s movement in the UK and the USA, we are extremely concerned about how the proposed amendment to the Coroners and Justice Bill will impact on the lives of disabled people.
If Lord Falconer’s amendment succeeds in the House of Lords on Tuesday 7 July then those who assist ‘terminally ill’ people to go abroad to end their lives in ‘suicide clinics’ would be immune from prosecution. The phrase ‘terminally ill’ is not defined in the amendment, and could potentially apply to people with a very wide range of chronic progressive illnesses some with life expectancy stretching to decades.
Disabled people who experience progressive conditions understand far more than non-disabled people about what it is live with these pressures. We know what is acceptable as disease or disability progresses, and for the huge number of us who say no to assisted suicide, it is because we fear the changing culture such an amendment would bring. People without experience of disability, including our friends and families cannot predict what each stage of our personal journey will mean. Furthermore, financial and emotional conflicts of interest will always present an added burden to the situation. A law decriminalising assisted suicide would undoubtedly place disabled people under pressure to end their lives early to relieve the burden on relatives, carers or the state.
These concerns are not side issues that only affect disabled people. We are like society’s ‘canaries in the coalmine’ who can often see the dangers of potentially discriminatory legislation before others, as it impacts on us even before the deed is done. We are scared now; we will be terrified if assisted suicide becomes state-sanctioned.
The existing law, with the penalties it holds in reserve, causes potential assisters and those wishing to die, to think very carefully before acting. The discretion within current law enables judges to exercise compassion in hard cases. What is not broken does not need fixing.
Disabled people have been largely silent in this debate which has been carried out in the media by clerics, non-disabled commentators and a small handful of individuals with terminal conditions who are supported by Dignity in Dying. Until large numbers of people like us are present to engage in this highly complex and ethical debate, we must strongly oppose any device such as Lord Falconer’s amendment to get assisted dying in through the back door.
Baroness Campbell of Surbiton
Crossbench Peer
David Morris
Chair of Independent Living Alternatives
Haqeeq Bostan
Director of New Disability Policy Forum
- Mood:
anxious
Comments
As a Danner, I need to be Honest with other Danners.....
I can't/don't wish to sign the Petition, at this very present stage, as I'm very divided within my own beliefs, about this issue.
I need to be clear first about this very difficult subject....and I'm not......I have to admit sincerely that I do fully agree with assisted Suicide in some cases and do not in others....I just can't put it as a WHOLE, as in my own belief, each case of whoever decides to go ahead with assisted suicide, is a very personal and individual case....
If it's a debate which already creates such a division....I'm divided in my own beliefs about it.....
Marisha
We all should be campaiging for 'assistive living', not 'assitive dying/suicide.... remember the the 'Nazi Eugenic' programmes and 'Disability Holocaust'?
"Not in my Name'!!!!... Read more
FREEOURPEOPLE
Colin Revell
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentis
And who's speaking for our right to live: (Jane Campbell)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentis
http://disabilityarts.org.contentcurato