3 of the nation’s leading experts in palliative care write to The Times about “the assisted dying disaster that is unfolding in Canada” and urge U.K. Parliamentarians to put the safety of vulnerable people above other considerations and to beware “the dangerous blurring of the boundaries between suicide prevention and suicide promotion”

The Times: Letters 6^th January 2023

CANADIAN ‘PARAGON’
Sir, Sarah Wootton (letter, Jan 4), once again overlooks the assisted dying disaster that is unfolding in Canada. To ignore the plight of individuals requesting an assisted death because of poverty or inadequate care is an insult to vulnerable individuals everywhere. Dignity in Dying and others are desperate for parliamentarians to look anywhere except Canada, despite having promoted it as a paragon of excellence for years and choosing to ignore the dangerous blurring of the boundaries between suicide prevention and suicide promotion.

Promoting choice demands honesty. True autonomy only exists with informed choice, but this truth is being denied by Dignity in Dying.

Amy Proffitt, president, Association for Palliative Medicine
Rob George, professor of palliative care, KCL
Claud Regnard, honorary consultant in palliative care medicine, Newcastle-upon-Tyne