Assisted Dying may be controversial for those uncomfortable with the realities of Death. But it’s not the same thing as suicide and anyone uncomfortable with that reality should not be influencing public policy
Whilst much of our attention has been focused elsewhere recently, the Assisted Dying Bill (Terminally Ill Adults [End of Life] Bill) has been making its way through The Lords. Attracting yet more criticism and bad feeling, in no small part due to former Prime Minister Theresa May equating the outcome with Suicide last week.
To say the issues underpinning the purpose of the Bill are proving to be massively controversial would be an understatement.
But the whole question is very complex even before beginning to consider the answer and mechanics of a solution. And this reality seems to yet again be being missed by many politicians by who really should know much better.
Sadly, for us, they don’t. And whilst the Bill could and should have been handled far better than it has by the current government, the different fear-driven arguments lining up against it risks thousands – and potentially even some of those who are arguing against it right now – finding themselves unable to access the relief that they need. For no better reason than the indulgence of the unfounded fears of those who probably never will.
The tricky part is Death
Perhaps one of the most difficult subjects for any of us to deal with in life, is the question of mortality and death.
Few of us find comfort with the certain reality that our bodies will eventually die.
We certainly don’t wish to contemplate the idea that we could find ourselves incapacitated one day.
And we really don’t feel comfortable considering the possibility of a situation ever existing where we would be unable to communicate with others at the time when wishing to find a peacefully assisted way out of life may in fact be the genuinely preferential choice.
It is much easier instead to assume that we would and could never want to end our own life and have reason to ask for help to do it. That this is something that would never happen to me. And that what life means to us today must be protected and held secure in any way that it possibly can be.
To be fair, this is a feeling shared by almost everyone who has no health problems; is perhaps younger than most, or who has no reason to believe that they could ever find themselves at a very difficult stage of life where death might be the preferable option.
A situation where they would be experiencing significant and potentially intolerable discomfort and pain, that may itself be beyond the scope of functional life if to continue means becoming dependent upon high levels of pain relief.
However, for those who have already found themselves staring their mortality in the eye, knowing that there’s unlikely to be anything good about their last hours, days and perhaps many weeks before they go, looking reality in the eye takes on a very different meaning.
As we consider what the outcome of this Bill really means for people other than ourselves, it’s important for us all to understand that the experience of dealing with an end of life that has now become expected and what that means to the patient can be just the same if not worse for very close family and loved ones – who will know what this kind of suffering means more than most thankfully could.
Assisted Dying and Suicide are only similar in so far as they both involve the choice to end your own life
The fact that we are culturally backwards when it comes to death, means that we fail to have or take part in the conversations and openness about what is essentially the last part of life.
We don’t discuss or consider the realities of death as we really should.
Therefore, we avoid looking more closely at what the process of dying for those who do go with the knowledge they are going to do so really means.
The prickliness this lack of discourse creates leaves many of us facing the ridiculous situation where we back off from friends and people we know with terminal illnesses and even cancer diagnoses; sometimes without even realising that we are avoiding the issues around mortality.
Issues that would make life a lot easier for everyone if we were more willing to embrace them as being normal.
That said, everyone should recognise that there is a very distinct difference between the circumstances where a person will have to contemplate the otherwise unthinkable need to alleviate pain and suffering by ending their life sooner than what will already be an early death, and the equally tragic but also all too often isolated and lonely circumstances that surround the question of Suicide for those who have reached or are reaching anything like the conclusion that they no longer wish to continue in their life.
Assisted Dying and Suicide are not the same thing
There is a significant difference between choosing to die by committing Suicide and choosing to die through a process of Assisted Dying.
People choose to end their life through Suicide because they find the prospect of continuing to remain alive in their body too painful to contemplate.
People would choose Assisted Dying, not because they want to die. But because remaining in their body has become too painful or difficult to continue being alive – and what we would likely all agree as being a realistic quality of life is therefore no longer possible.
Whilst some would argue that there is no difference between the two, or that the differences are too subtle to make any real difference, the reality is that the need for Assisted Dying is based upon the alleviation of pain and circumstances that are or will be created by our physical state. Whereas the wish to end life through Suicide reflects pain and circumstances that are ultimately created by our mental health – often by external factors and our relationship with them – that are outside of our control.
In the most basic terms, we are talking about the differences between physical and mental pain.
As Assisted Dying is about addressing physical pain, it seems only appropriate that this is dealt with as any other physical health issue would be – with specific policies and procedures to deal with it.
Being idealistic is great, until idealism meets practical reality
We are at least talking about Assisted Dying – even if there is a significant risk that those who are afraid of what will happen if the Bill becomes law are potentially being as inconsiderate to the few that really need this option, as those involved in the debate who may well have more sinister considerations in mind.
Suicide, on the other hand, is the silent tip of the wider mental health epidemic. Quietly swept under the carpet. Probably because just like the prospect of experiencing a natural death, which may be unbearably painful, very few of us believe that we could ever reach the level of desperation, where we might want to take our own life, simply because we no longer felt able to go on.
Where the picture can blur: Suicide and the Mental Health Epidemic
Regrettably, we are living in times where the boundaries of common sense and the values that underpin life have been deliberately blurred so that experiences and actions that are either different or motivated very differently can be argued as either being the same or resulting in the same thing.
People in genuine need of consideration and help are forgotten, whilst fashionable problems become the priority for all.
Whilst the realities that underpin Suicide and Assisted Dying can be defined between the escape from mental or physical pain, it must also be recognised that there is a potentially significant group of people who may feel more open to the idea of ending their lives, if they were to be able to engage in the process of Suicide with the assistance of someone else.
It’s easy for those looking on to scoff at this and therefore write off any such position as being whimsical. But for those who are thinking about the process of taking their own life methodically, the prospect of failing but making things worse for themselves is as real as the reality that others need help either to see things from a different perspective, or more likely changes to their circumstances which at that point feel well beyond their own control.
We should be under no illusion that those who have really reached the point where they cannot continue to live will find a way to make an exit.
The real selfishness that rumbles alongside the difficult subject of Suicide, isn’t the act on the part of the person who succeeds in taking their own life – no matter who or what circumstances they may leave behind.
The genuine selfishness surrounding Suicide is the lack of empathy and consideration on the part of others who cannot or will not conceive, just how desperate, lonely and hopeless a situation will have become for anyone, when they have concluded that the only solution for them is to take their own life.
Instead, many others make ‘their’ pain, about ‘me’.
It is an absolute tragedy that any person, no matter the circumstances, should find themselves considering Suicide as an option.
But the problem is very real, and anyone choosing to pretend that the questions this whole debate raises don’t matter, because it’s not something that normal people deal with every day, is simply deluding both themselves and anyone they are making decisions about life on behalf of.
According to The Samaritans, there were 5656 Suicides in 2023 (Which included a rise of 372 from the year before), whilst the Financial Times recently reported that after 10 years of the Bill being implemented, the number of Assisted Deaths would have then reached 4559 per year.
Meanwhile, the ONS tells us that in 2024 there were 568,613 deaths in England & Wales, meaning that in today’s terms, we are talking about at least 1% of deaths each year for Suicide and Assisted Dying (More than 2% or 2 deaths in every 100), which feels like a lot of people to be trying to escape life or death level pain, who are currently being overlooked.
Assisted Suicide is something different, again
Opening up the meaning of Assisted Dying so that it is considered to be the same as Assisted Suicide could indeed be a significant problem. If the appropriate safeguards are not in place.
However, the circumstances should never exist where Assisted Suicide becomes a problem. Provided that an adequate system of checks and balances are put in place that prevent any situation from coming into existence where death could arguably become a lifestyle choice. Thereby effectively legalising the death of ‘unwanted’ people at the hands of others who get away with murder. Because the establishment has helpfully allowed circumstances to exist where this terrible act can be given a different meaning by using an alternative name.
However, shutting down those possibilities does not address the reality that there are a lot of very unhappy people across the UK.
People whose lives could be improved massively if those responsible for public policy and direction were doing their jobs properly.
And there are a lot more suffering with these problems than any of our politicians might openly like to think.
The mental health epidemic being experienced by people like you and I across the UK is very real indeed, with well-known Mental Health Charity Mind suggesting that 1 in 4 of us in the UK will experience a mental health issue of some kind each year, with 1 in 6 of us experiencing a more common Mental Health issue like anxiety or depression each week.
Regrettably, as with most things where politicians and influencers are getting so wrong about the lives they are supposed to be improving, you really do have to have experienced a mental health problem or had your life touched by someone experiencing one to even begin understanding how very real the impact on functional life for the sufferer and those around them can be.
It is horrid to have to consider that once any person has stepped into the living tragedy that is the mental health epidemic, there is very little available to help those suffering to find a cure, beyond management of the condition itself.
Unfortunately, many of the causes of the wider mental health problem and indeed the absence of the types of support and the environments that create real happiness stem from the massively unsustainable, money and material orientated and valueless lives that we are now leading and that we are encouraged to live.
It is a situation that is itself dehumanizing the way that we approach everything and is therefore making our interpretation of such difficult issues as Assisted Dying and Suicide considerably worse.
The role of fear for those making decisions for us who are themselves completely unaffected
Our political system is failing us through the selection and appointment of so-called leaders who cannot lead, who we know today as politicians.
Lack of good leadership and public representation has become so problematic and embedded across society that it has become difficult to comprehend just how far the rot has spread throughout the public sector and our entire system of governance.
Regrettably, poor leaders, who don’t have the qualities and abilities necessary to lead, are as likely to indulge their own fears whilst identifying them as being those of everyone, as they are to being led in any direction that they are advised by whoever they might choose to listen to or be influenced by at any time.
Yes, there are very good reasons why no sanctioned or legalized form of death that involves the assistance of anyone else should simply not be allowed.
However, this is the 21st century. We do not exist in times where a system of checks and balances would be difficult to put in place and maintain.
If any good government were to consider the facts and mechanics of how the genuine need for a pain-free or comfortable death for those who are already known to be terminally ill and have rapidly reducing or arguably no remaining quality of life, a properly considered and fully consulted process should be more than possible.
However, it would need to be conducted without the emotion and the irrationality that is running rampant through the corridors of power at this time.
We would then surely be able to create and implement a system that would work for everyone, providing all the assurances necessary, whilst managing what are the relatively small figures of people who need Assisted Dying as an option in real terms, so that they can make the choice.
It is unacceptable that we have people who have been elected to represent us and therefore make meaningful and fully considered decisions upon our behalf, who do not have sufficient self-awareness to be able to discern that they are considering only their own views and experiences.
Nobody should be enabled to consider their own view to be qualified and therefore more reliable than that of others, purely because of the position that they have attained, and nothing more.
The Depopulation Agenda
Perhaps the most destructive element of the Assisted Dying debate entering public discourse, is the growing fear that the whole Bill has been introduced as some kind of trojan horse; rolled into the legislative agenda with the intention of facilitating a Depopulation plan of the kind that has been mentioned by a number of different speakers linked either to the worlds elites or world-government-obsessed organisations such as the WEF.
Sadly, experience suggests that both the last Conservative as well as the current Labour Governments have pursued agendas that have zero alignment with the public good.
Decisions made and policies enacted are massively out of touch with reality and common sense.
They appear to have either been built upon the ignorance and ineptitude of the politicians themselves; because they are having their strings pulled by someone else, or both.
Regrettably, the fact remains that in terms of the things that politicians have and are doing that harm us and have the potential to harm us even more in the future, there are much bigger and much more real issues that we are choosing to ignore that are already affecting us and our lives today. Issues that are themselves laying the groundwork for sinister levels of societal control that make clear there really is no need for politicians to use such obvious tools as this Bill to achieve such aims – if that’s what they intend.
The fear that a growing number have of the establishment and all those who seem to have been able to maintain unquestionable levels of societal control, is very real to those who feel it.
But this fear could quickly be addressed if we were to all stop going along with the information meal that we keep getting served; take back our own power and begin taking steps to make every decision that relates to our lives, our communities and our environment, for ourselves.
Done properly, Assisted Dying would not be open to abuse by the State or anyone else
Were the process of putting a policy for Assisted Dying together conducted properly and with the resources, time and impartiality that it should be – given that as things stand, we are arguably kinder to our pets than we are to other people when it comes to the practicalities of dealing with a physical need for euthanasia, there is no reason to doubt that the necessary safeguards and protections could be put in place to ensure that no circumstances could exist where assisted suicide – whether voluntary or involuntary – could take place. Even in cases of dementia or other forms of mental incapacity where the sufferer had not themselves given reasoned and appropriate consent.
Regrettably, whether the Bill currently working its way through the Legislative system was as well intended as it arguably should have been or not, the reality is that like most things this political class touches, it is anything and everything else that sits beyond the real purpose and outcomes for the genuine beneficiaries of a successful process, that seem to be getting prioritised first.
Useful Contacts:
If you have been affected by any of the issues that have been discussed in this Essay, and are not already in touch with them, you can reach The Samaritans on the phone by calling 116 123 or Mind by calling 0300 102 1234.
Adam Tugwell 