Assisted suicide might save money but would be a disaster

A Scottish church leader has suggested that changing the law on assisted dying for terminally ill patients could be seen as a money saving exercise for the NHS. this is in a context where there are growing calls amongst some politicians to make it legal to kill yourself or someone else in the context of a terminal illness or condition.

From a Christian perspective we believe that God gives and sustains all human life and because human beings are uniquely made in the image of God, all human life has intrinsic dignity and worth. Therefore we seek to uphold and promote the utmost respect for human life, from fertilisation until natural death. This means we could not support any change to make it easier to end life unnaturally. 

Of course we realise there are exceptional cases where life is being unnaturally prolonged by machines and there may be agonising decisions to make about ending that support. But the cases any new law would cover, would be people with a viable existence, who want to use medical or other means to end their lives, to reduce the suffering, cost or mental strain of living any longer

Legalisation of euthanasia would be a disaster for the medical profession changing the relationship from “First, do no harm” to “First, do no harm unless we decide your life is no longer worth living”. The breakdown of the patient-doctor relationship of respect and trust would rapidly follow.

It would put intolerable pressure spoken or otherwise on the elderly and the infirm to move over and place additional stress on family members having to include the option in thinking. 

Human beings have the opportunity to be reconciled to God and so live and die in hope. Furthermore, the people of God are entrusted with this gospel to demonstrate before a watching world how to live well and how to die well. Christians must therefore be in the

vanguard of showing compassion towards all those who suffer, including the vulnerable, the disabled and the dying.