It is deeply ironic that at the same time the Government is making noises about giving old people more respect Lord Joffe is sponsoring a Bill to allow physician-assisted suicide for the terminally ill.
The main reason to oppose this Bill is that a 'right to die' would quickly become a 'duty to die' in a youth-obsessed society that sees the old and sick as a burden and a drain on public resources. The terminally-ill might feel duty-bound to hasten their ends though a sense of guilt and shame, especially if the cost of care were eating into heir children's inheritances. Making this Bill law would be the thin end of the wedge.
Joffe's Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill was introduded into the House of Lords on 9 November 2005 and is expected to receive its Second Reading on 12 May 2006.
A wide cross-section of organisations have banded together to form an alliance called Care Not Killing in opposition to the Bill. Please visit their website to find out more and sign their petition.
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