Are vulnerable people threatened by a change in the law?
Vulnerable people are more at risk now because there are no safeguards. Any change in the law must have safeguards at its centre. The last Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill had over 20 inter-related safeguards to protect the vulnerable. These safeguards would afford better protection against back-street suicide and mercy killings than we have at the moment. We need to change the law to bring assisted dying into the open and subject to scrutiny. Evidence shows us that assisted dying is already taking place in UK without any safeguards at all. Assisted dying is being carried out by doctors and relatives, even without evidence that this in line with the individual?s wishes. In contrast research published in the Journal of Medical Ethics in 2007 found absolutely no evidence that vulnerable people were put at risk as a result of a change in the law in the Netherlands or Oregon. Legalising assisted dying would ensure strict legal safeguards are in place to make sure that assisted dy
