Streeting steps up attack on assisted dying bill, saying its cost would hit other NHS services
Streeting steps up attack on assisted dying bill, saying its cost would hit other NHS services
Health secretary escalates opposition to mooted reform, saying it would have ‘resource implications’ for other services
There are arguments for and against assisted suicide for terminally ill patients.
Cost – regardless of whether it's a bit cheaper or a bit more expensive – should not be one of them, Wes.
It's a strange argument because it's as if caring for a terminally ill person doesn't cost anything.
I dunno, you could say that cost is a factor, because the NHS can't do everything, so they have to prioritise based on the funds they have.
But on the other hand, given that assisted dying is only set to be offered to people who are thought to have 6 months left to live, I assume there won't be many people using the NHS in this way, so surely it would be a very small part of the NHS budget.
Maybe at the very least they should decriminalise the assisting of someone ending their life in certain cases, so that if somebody helps their relative go to Dignitas in Switzerland, they won't be breaking the law.
It doesn't really matter if this bill passes because it's going to make it so difficult to even be able to use what it offers with all the hoops people would have to jump through.
Its politics. A slow game.
Much of parliament has reason to fear such bills being used less honestly.
Both the obvious bullying in aid of quickening inheritance risk. But also doctors trying to hide errors etc. Or, with a bit of creativity, out right murder.
The only way such a bill will ever pass is by addressing those fears.
But, like all such things. Once the bill is in place. More rational versions that address them in less over the top ways. Can be argued based on both the actual defined right for folks in this law. And the historical data of people who actually try to do so.
It's never a warrantee. But reality is, politics is more often about strategies against fear than logical facts. After all, MPs are people with their own emotional and religiose flaws etc.
We can easily save money by contracting out assisted death to the private sector. Let G4S or Serco have a crack at it.