A review of Dignity in Dying’s

LAST RESORT —

“The hidden truth about how dying people take their own lives in the UK” (2021)

‘Last Resort’ is a visually beautiful document — kudos to TEMPLO, the graphic design company employed by Dignity in Dying!

Though dealing with the double tragedy of suicide and terminal illness, the art-work is striking and appropriate for the topic; there are poignant personal stories; the information is presented in a compellingly simple way and overall the document is persuasive — till the ‘facts’ presented by Dignity in Dying are analyzed properly.

[This review does not comment on any opinion or beliefs of the bereaved family members.]

The full document can be seen by clicking on the cover-page to the right >>>

FORMAT

Last Resort is 88-pages long — 45 in PDF. It appears to be a digital presentation primarily.

The 86 internal pages include:

~15 full-page graphics or quotations, &
~12 full-page photos, &
~35 pages of quotations from “bereaved family members and clinicians,” &
many part-page photos & enlarged quotations.

When we look at the overall composition of the document, even the cover seems to mislead the beholder (till one reads the ‘fine print.’)

The cover image is of a young, thin, bald, sad-looking man, gazing wistfully into the distance. In the smallest, un-bolded font, there is a note saying that Anil is ‘campaigning for his Dad.’ There is a carefully-crafted message in the way he is depicted, though Dignity in Dying retain full deniability.

STATISTICS

Their foundational claim is that “5 to 10%” of all suicides are associated with a terminal illness. They use this range to calculate 300-650 such suicides p.a. in the UK, and therefore justify the introduction of assisted suicide.

The main source for the 10% number comes from the West Sussex Suicides Audit of 2013-2015. You can see for yourself how that report is less definitive than portrayed by Dignity in Dying (below right.)

Dignity in Dying then completely ignores several major findings from West Sussex:

One in three individuals lived alone at the time of death, &
Nearly one in three deaths occurred after consuming some level of alcohol, &
One in seven had taken illicit or non-prescribed drugs, &
One in three described a history of self-harm.

They even provided contradictory statistics within their own document!
Two references (left) suggested a much smaller association between suicide and terminal illness. Information submitted from the Norwich District Coroner’s Office reports 3.1% and the Primary Care Trusts in England show a mere 2.1% in 2011.

Taking a total of 5,583 suicides through-out England and Wales in 2021, the numbers of suicides with terminal illness may be as low as 117 people [2.1%] or as high as 558 [10%].

There are other risk factors including loneliness, substance abuse, mental illnesses and a history of self injury. Such problems cause havoc within a family.

Every death is a tragedy, but considering the UK population of almost 68 million people, 117-558 people are very small numbers. The active reduction of loneliness and substance abuse could have significant impact on the non-assisted suicide rate. Indeed, this is more humane than providing an ill, lonely old alcoholic, (etc.) the ‘quick fix’ of assisted suicide.

SOURCES / REFERENCES

Many of the 101 “references” [pages 84 - 86] are from biased organizations which are supporting Assisted Suicide. (as Dignitas; The Guardian; The Times; The Sunday Times & The British Medical Association.)

Dignity in Dying also references their own articles & polls! For example, Reference 99 gives the cryptic clue “Populus 2019” rather than a true reference. This almost certainly refers to the 2019 Populus opinion-poll commissioned — paid for! — by Dignity in Dying. The ‘poll’ was taken from their paid panel. Follow the link below to read my full critique:

https://www.catholicarena.com/latest/2022/7/14/more-lies-damned-lies-and-statistics

[The market-research company Populus later became the consultancy firm, Yonder.]

DIGNITAS
Dignity in Dying also tout the 50 people going to Dignitas in Switzerland for assisted suicide each year as a justification for Assisted Suicide in the British Isles.

Every suicide is a tragedy but in straight numbers, fifty is not even one per week nor one per million people in the UK per annum.

This is a minuscule number on which to base a major change in our human rights and runs the risk of the UK & Ireland becoming like Canada.

CONCLUSION

[This article does not comment on any opinion or beliefs of the fourteen “bereaved family members and clinicians.” ]

(‘serious life-shortening’ is not the same as terminal/palliative.)

Every country with assisted suicide has expanded their criteria. They tend to include non-terminal illness first, then add chronic pain and later, mental illnesses. This, all in the name of “compassion.”

Many want to include consent by “personal directive” so the victim does not have to be competent when euthanised. Some countries have added ‘mature minors’ — down to 12 years old. There is some infant euthanasia in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Note that My Death My Decision is campaigning for “The Canadian model of assisted dying” for “adults of sound mind who are terminally ill or intolerably suffering.” [Both are legal but Canada provide almost 100% as voluntary euthanasia, not assisted suicide.]

If we are a caring society, we must fix the underlying societal problems like loneliness, substance abuse, mental illness, etc.

Dignity in Dying claims that many “suffer pain…even with access to the best possible palliative care.” Expert palliative care is simply NOT universally available 24/7/365 throughout the UK and Ireland: to say otherwise is egregious misrepresentation.

Even many Atheists & Humanists agree that it is morally bankrupt to provide assisted suicide for terminal illness, before providing universal access to expert palliative-care, 24/7/365.

Look to Canada to see how quickly things can go badly wrong — euthanasia was offered to Canadian military veterans suffering from PTSD; to a man with a progressive illness who just wants to live at home with adequate home-care support and a Paralympian who inquired about a chair-lift for her stairs…

Perhaps ‘the truth of how people are dying in the UK’ is still hidden considering there is not one comment in this document from anyone suffering from a terminal illness.

If you think that the UK — or Ireland — will be different because of their ‘superior tradition’ and ‘better safeguards,’ just look to the recent action of British doctors and a British Judge who all wanted 19 year old, mentally competent Patient S.T. to die…

The truth is, S.T. just wanted to live.