By Julia Englehardt
On Friday 29th November 2024, MPs in the British Parliament voted (330 to 275, a majority of 55) for the reintroduction of state administered death. Britain used to have this in the form of capital punishment, suspended in 1964 and finally abolished in 1969. The state is not going to begin killing you for committing treason or heinous crimes such as the Southport murders – don’t be silly, that would be far too sensible and popular with the public. But should the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill clear the standard parliamentary hurdles over the next two years, the British public will have the option, if eligible, to have the government end their lives for them. This will be done with the assistance of the state religion, the NHS. In short, the state can now be a party to the premature death of a citizen....
Sometimes it’s hard not to feel the shadow of Dr Harold Shipman [pictured above] hanging over this legislation. Shipman, Britain’s most prolific serial killer, targeted vulnerable elderly people, who trusted him as their GP, killing them with either a lethal dose of drugs or prescribing extreme levels of drugs.
Shipman was convicted in January 2000 of killing 15 patients (with 284 confirmed deaths, possibly more) over more than two decades. What’s to prevent an unscrupulous doctor taking advantage of a vulnerable, terminally ill patient? Certainly, they can do this already under the existing system but the mandate to help a patient suicide themselves has to be raising the level of risk....
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