Hospices that refuse ‘to kill patients’ fear Govt defunding

Palliative care staff have urged the Government not to defund hospices that refuse to harm their patients under an assisted suicide regime.

In an open letter to Health Secretary Wes Streeting, almost 350 palliative care clinicians expressed alarm that Kim Leadbeater’s Bill afforded no protection to hospices “unwilling to facilitate assisted suicide on their premises”.

Under the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, patients deemed to be terminally ill and with less than six months to live would be allowed to receive help to kill themselves. The crucial Third Reading vote – MPs’ final decision on whether to approve the Bill and send it to the House of Lords – is expected on Friday.

‘Do no harm’

The letter stated that euthanasia and assisted suicide are contrary to the hospice movement’s “ethical framework of ‘do no harm’”, and contradict its “core function of caring for people until their natural death”.

It warned: “The vast majority of palliative care doctors would not provide assisted suicide. Many would leave their post if assisted suicide was proposed as part of their services.”

The letter went on to say: “We do not want to kill our patients, nor have them fearful that we may do just that. Let us do the job we are trained to do.”

It concluded: “We urgently request clarity from the Government that no hospice will be denied public funding because they are unwilling to facilitate assisted suicide on their premises or be placed under a duty to provide such a service.”

Crisis

Commenting on the danger, Our Duty of Care spokeswoman Dr Gillian Wright said: “The palliative care and hospice sectors are already in crisis, massively underfunded and understaffed. Yet this Bill will compound the problem by failing to give hospices who do not support killing their patients an opt out.

“This will force many doctors, nurses and even volunteers to make a Hobbesian choice to stick to their clinical, ethical or moral objections against assisted suicide, or take part in ending someone’s life.”

In Canada, the Minister of Health for British Columbia announced in 2020 plans to close Delta Hospice Society over its refusal to provide assisted suicide. The hospice remains open, but lost the equivalent of £1.8 million in annual public funding.