Fwd: Assisted Dying Update

[June Herridge]

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: Michael Scott <michae...@manx.net>
Date: 17 April 2023 at 09:16:14 GMT+1
To: June Herridge <junelau...@gmail.com>
Subject: Fwd: Assisted Dying Update





Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: Graeme Easton <g...@manx.net>
Date: 16 April 2023 at 17:41:55 GMT+1
To: stmaryca...@rcaol.org.uk
Cc: Stella Harris <stellah...@icloud.com>
Subject: Assisted Dying Update



Good afternoon all,

I’m sending this from my personal account rather than my diocesan one as manx.net has decided that all emails from our diocesan addresses are Spam.  I’ve asked for it to be looked into.

 

Following this morning’s update from Stella, a reminder of the key points:

 

• Despite being biased towards being pro assisted dying, the consultation showed a majority (albeit small) against
• Dr. Allinson said that he would proceed with his bill if the consultation found that the public are in favour of assisted dying in the Island.  It clearly doesn’t give a clear mandate, but he has refused to drop it.
• In the last few days of the consultation, 58 hard copy responses from our parish were handed in (in addition to many who had completed the survey on line).  Given that the majority against was only 20, you can see that our input made a clear difference.  Thank you, but please keep it up.
• We know that a number of the pro assisted responses came from off Island and Dr. Allinson is working closely with pro assisted dying groups in the UK.  They are supporting him in the hope that if the bill is enacted here, it will be easier for them to get a change in the UK.
• The supporters of the bill focus on easing the “inevitable pain and loss of dignity for people with terminal illnesses”.  With our palliative care systems, there is no inevitability of pain.
• If this bill is passed, funding for it will come from the current healthcare budget.  What services would be cut to pay for it?
• There are currently about 10 suicides a year on the Island.  The Government has recently published a suicide prevention strategy with a vision “The Isle of Man is a place where suicide is a thing of the past. People never get to the point where suicide seems like the only option; there is always a better solution.” How does that fit with a bill saying we’ll actively support suicide if you want. There is clear evidence that in territories where assisted dying is legalised, suicide becomes normalised and rates go up.

 

And the question of what we can do.  Three things:

 

1. Pray. And pray again.
2. Get informed.  Understand the facts.

Read the results of the consultation

Come to one of the meetings with Dr. Claude Reynard entitled “Assisted Dying; the facts, the evidence”.  These will be held at 7pm on 16^th May at the Mountain View Innovation Centre, Ramsey or 17^th May at the Keyll Darree Post Grad Centre ay Nobles Hospital. And encourage others to come too. Ensure the message is heard.

3. Speak up.

We have already seen how we have managed to influence the consultation.  We now need to make sure the message is heard. Write to the paper or radio.  Write to your MHKs.  Talk to your friends

A lot of people are afraid to speak up because they fear the reaction. We need to show those people that they are not alone.  You can bet that over the coming weeks the pro assisted dying lobby will be saying a lot.  We need to say even more.

What I would also suggest is that while we should all be proud of our faith, we should not focus our comments on “It’s against the will of God” or similar.  Whilst it is against the will of God, the pro assisted dying camp want to portray those against as a group of religious extremists.  We should try to avoid that impression and frame our arguments in other ways.

 

And finally, to assist you, I’ve attached the following:

 

1. The article from this week’s Examiner in case you haven’t seen it
2. The article from the Manx Independent in January where in the last paragraph Dr. Allinson states he will go ahead if the public are in favour
3. An article from yesterday’s Daily Telegraph which illustrates the slippery slope.  In the Netherlands, parents are now able to have children of any age killed if they are suffering unbearably
4. A couple of articles from last week’s Tablet on this subject which are useful.

 

If you have any questions about this, please let Stella or I know.

 

Graeme