Around the world
There are only 10 countries around the world where assisted suicide has been legalised, when looking at these we can see a dangerous future for the UK if the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is passed. Other countries see the assisted suicides of:
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people with eating disorders
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people in poverty
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children
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people with mental health problems
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people feeling like a burden
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We have to prevent this from happening in the UK to stop people from being killed as an alternative to being offered the support they need to continue living.
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We see the warning signs from countries around the world where assisted suicide is legal. The details below are examples of the risks of what could happen in the UK if the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill passes.​
Oregon, USA
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In Oregon’s 2021 report on reasons people had assisted suicide, 54% did so because they felt a burden and this percentage has doubled in the last 10 years, from 26% to 54%.
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The reach of the Oregon laws have also been expanded three times since its introduction, and the change in 2021 resulted in the inclusion of people with conditions like eating disorders, complications from a fall and diabetes.
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Canada
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Less than ten years after the introduction of assisted suicide in Canada, it now accounts for 4.1% of all Canadian deaths and has risen nearly tenfold in the six years to 2021, according to its own reporting.
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Related to many fears about inadequate palliative care pushing people towards assisted suicide, 41% of the patients who die this way in Canada have no access to palliative care.
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A report from Associated Press “found doctors and nurses privately struggling with euthanasia requests from vulnerable people whose suffering might be addressed by money, social connections or adequate housing”.
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Belgium
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Belgium is one of four countries in the world where assisted suicide for children is legal. In Belgium, there is no minimum age for euthanasia as long as children are “deemed competent”.
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This is also a country where shortcomings in the monitoring of assisted suicide deaths mean that reporting is lacking and only “one out of two euthanasia cases is reported to the Federal Control and Evaluation Committee”.
A matter of incredible concern is that if a person lacks capacity to make the decision to die by assisted suicide, they can still do so in Belgium if they have an advance directive saying that they wanted that at some point in their life. ​​
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Switzerland
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Switzerland was the first country to legalise assisted suicide and the numbers of people dying this way have increased dramatically over time, doubling every five years.
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Germany
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Assisted suicides in Germany can be for mental or physical health reasons, and social factors (e.g. lack of care) also play a role in the reason people die by this method.
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Concerns have also been raised in this country that not everybody who dies by assisted suicide has the capacity to make that decision; two physicians have been sent to prison for assisting the suicide of people not competent to make that choice.
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Luxembourg
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​​In Luxembourg, assisted suicide and euthanasia are available to people from the age of 16 and, if a patient is not able to consent to assisted suicide, they can be killed anyway if they have a living will saying they wanted it at some point in the past.
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New Zealand
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In the first three years of assisted suicide being legal in New Zealand, 2500 New Zealanders applied for a physician-assisted death and 970 died this way. Research has found that some people were requesting assisted dying for "existential distress" and "feeling a burden”.
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The Netherlands
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In the Netherlands, both adults and children can die by assisted suicide or euthanasia, and this can be for mental or physical health reasons and many concerns have been raised about practices in this country, including a forced euthanasia case.
