[Church of England] General Synod has called on the United Kingdom government to improve funding for “desperately needed” palliative care rather than putting vulnerable people at risk through “unworkable and unsafe” legislation to introduce assisted suicide.
Members of the Synod backed a call by the bishop of London for the government to increase funding for palliative care and palliative care research to enable people to live their lives in full until they die.
The debate heard speeches opposing a change in the law and backing increased funding for palliative care from a range of different Synod members including clergy who work in hospice care, National Health Service consultant surgeons, general practitioners and a psychiatrist.
Bishop Sarah Mullally, who is a former chief nursing officer for England, said she was “deeply concerned” by the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which would legalize assisted suicide, being brought by Member of Parliament Kim Leadbeater.
And she called on General Synod members to pray and to “engage” with peers in the House of Lords as the bill goes to that body.
Mullally told the Synod the bill was “unsafe and unworkable” and would put vulnerable groups at risk, including terminally ill people who cannot access the end-of-life care they need.
“Successive governments have failed to reduce inequalities in health,” she said.
“These inequalities mean that some people will have up to 20 fewer good years in health than others, and certain groups face persistently worse health outcomes than others.
“These inequalities are also pronounced at the end of life, with only one in four people who need end-of-life care being able to access it, and there continues to be widespread misunderstanding and distrust of palliative care.
“It is into this context that the Terminally Ill Adults Bill is being proposed. So with only a third of all hospice care being funded by the NHS, the proposals are accompanied by a government commitment to fund in full an assisted suicide service should the bill be passed.
“Rather than funding assisted dying, the government should be funding palliative care and palliative care research to enable people to live their lives to the full until they die.”
Mullally said the government’s own equality impact assessment recognized that people may choose an “assisted” death either because they cannot access the care that they need, or because they may feel pressure to end their lives due to the cost of the care.
The assessment also warns of the adverse impacts that the bill could have on groups such as disabled people, women and those who are vulnerable to coercion, she added.
“We don’t only put others at risk by making this change, but our view of what constitutes a valuable life will be altered as a society,” she said.
“Scripture tells us that every person is made in the image of God and holds an immeasurable value and worth.
“This value does not diminish with physical ailment, or loss of faculty, even if a condition is terminal.”