More than 140 doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers in Yorkshire have called on MPs to reject the new assisted suicide Bill at its Second Reading on 11 September, calling it “unsafe”.
The healthcare professionals, including GPs and consultants, have signed a letter urging MPs and the Government to reject the legislation.
In the letter, they state, “Whatever individuals’ views on the principles of assisted dying, we are united in our analysis that this bill is not safe for patients”.
The healthcare professionals reveal that they are “deeply concerned” about the return of the assisted suicide Bill, referring to many of the concerns that have been raised about the proposals by medical professional organisations, including the British Medical Association, the Royal College of Physicians, and the British Geriatrics Society.
Referring to the current crisis in health and care services, the signatories state that the “NHS is fragile, under immense pressure, and palliative care access is inequitable and woefully inadequate”.
“Without national focus and funding reviews to bolster palliative care provision in each of these areas, we risk palliative care services becoming ever-more stretched”, they said.
The doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers explained how marginalised communities, including rural patients, people with dementia and people from minority backgrounds, “face pronounced inequities in access to palliative care, and therefore poorer outcome[s]”.
“At present, too many people do not [have access to high-quality compassionate care]. We are failing our society by denying them that care, and we would fail them again by offering an assisted death before ensuring that proper end-of-life care is available to all”, the signatories added.