Wednesday 25 June 2014

Mixed opinions by judges in Nicklinson case shows danger of Falconer bill

The mixed opinions of judges in this morning’s Supreme Court judgment (read the court's press summary) in the Nicklinson case shows the danger of Parliament passing the Falconer assisted suicide bill.

The warning came from SPUC Pro-Life a leading anti-euthanasia group which was represented officially before the courts in the Pretty and Purdy cases.

Paul Tully, SPUC’s general secretary, told the media earlier this morning:
“Although the Supreme Court has rejected the Nicklinson appeal in general, several Supreme Court justices have encouraged and even pressured Parliament to pass Lord Falconer’s assisted suicide bill. Today's judgment shows the real danger that judges who want to see assisted suicide allowed will undermine the Falconer bill’s weak safeguards for vulnerable people if the bill is passed. This danger adds to the urgent need for Parliamentarians robustly to oppose the Falconer bill.

Death as a new 'right' is a false right, that will not empower the vulnerable, but will empower the strong to kill the weak, the clever to kill the less educated, the fit to kill the unfit, adults to kill children.

The recent lessons from places like Holland and Belgium are clear: once the medical profession is given power to kill certain adult patients, the 'dyke is breached' and a small trickle of killings grows gradually at first to encompass more and more people, who, whether able to consent or not, are deemed to be 'lebensunwertes Leben' - 'life unworthy of life'.

"Those who should be particularly concerned by this judgment include:
  • supporters of the hospice movement
  • medical specialists
  • care workers looking after elderly and disabled people
  • disability rights groups
  • people with congenital conditions like cerebral palsy, spina bifida, Down's Syndrome, and cystic fibrosis
  • people with acquired conditions like stroke, multiple sclerosis, dementia, and terminal cancers."
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