A disability organisation has warned European states and EU institutions that assisted suicide legislation is unsafe.
The European Network of Independent Living (ENIL) has produced a policy statement outlining its opposition to assisted suicide, in light of the number of governments across Europe considering legislating on it.
Last week, MSPs rejected an attempt to legalise state-funded suicide in Scotland by 69 votes to 57, many of them citing concerns over its impact on people with disabilities.
Discrimination
The ENIL acknowledged that, for disabled people, assisted suicide legislation “raises specific concerns linked to discrimination, structural barriers, and the lack of adequate support services”.
It concluded that assisted suicide “cannot currently be considered a safe or rights-based option”.
Instead, the organisation recommended “ensuring adequate support systems and alternatives”, including: “Strong safeguards and independent monitoring” to stop human rights violations happening.
The ENIL stated: “no one should feel compelled to seek death because society failed to provide the conditions necessary to live with dignity”.
Burdensome
During the debate on assisted suicide in Scotland, disabled MSP Jeremy Balfour said: “the protections in this bill are not good enough. They could never be good enough.”
And Ruth Maguire MSP, who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer, shared: “I find it really hard to put into words the impact that the language of dignity and compassion being used to talk about ending life has had on me – as if somehow wishing to carry on but with help is undignified and burdensome, unfair to people who love me”.
She added: “My blood runs cold thinking about sitting in a room in a hospital and having a doctor raise that with me as we weigh up treatment options.”
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