Poll shows disabled people’s fears over assisted suicide

Some 70 per cent of disabled people would be concerned if the law on assisted suicide were to change because they feel it would lead to pressure being placed on disabled people to end their lives.

Findings from a new Scope commissioned ComRes survey of disabled people also reveals some 56% feel the legalisation of assisted suicide would be detrimental to the way that disabled people are viewed by society as a whole.

The news comes as the BBC announced that it is to screen a documentary where novelist Sir Terry Pratchett, a supporter of euthanasia, follows a man as he travels to Swiss clinic Dignitas to end his life.

Meanwhile actor Sir Patrick Stewart has thrown his weight behind the Dignity in Dying campaign. On the other side of the debate Care Not Killing has slammed the BBC as a “cheerleader for assisted suicide”.

Assisted suicide is the act of helping someone else to end their life. It remains illegal in the UK, but in recent years there have been calls to ‘clarify’ or change the law.

A commission on assisted dying has been set up to gather evidence on the issue – but it is not an official Government commission and there have been questions raised about its impartiality.

At the same time, high-profile members of the legal and medical profession have waded into the debate.

Scope commissioned the poll of disabled people in a bid to get behind the headlines and make sure disabled people’s views and opinions were heard amid the increasingly polarised debate.

Richard Hawkes, Chief Executive of disability charity Scope, said: “Assisted suicide is a complex and emotional issue, and there are loud and passionate voices on both sides of the debate. But while high-profile lawyers, doctors and celebrities such as Terry Pratchett and Sir Patrick Stewart grab the headlines, the views of the thousands of ordinary disabled people who could be affected by this issue are rarely listened to.

“Our survey findings confirm that concerns about legalising assisted suicide are not just held by a minority, but by a substantial majority of those this law would affect.

“Disabled people are already worried about people assuming their life isn't worth living or seeing them as a burden, and are genuinely concerned that a change in the law could increase pressure on them to end their life.

“These results should strike a note of caution for all sides, and show how vital a genuinely balanced and open debate on the issue is.

"We have serious concerns about the so-called ‘Commission’ on Assisted Dying, which despite its name is nothing to do with the Government. It feels like their findings are a foregone conclusion, with the debate loaded in favour of assisted suicide. The Government needs to form its own independent non-biased commission to explore this.”