Great Britain's Parliament has rejected a doctor-assisted suicide amendment.
The Falconer Amendment would have permitted physicians, under certain criteria, to help disabled and terminally ill patients commit suicide. The amendment was powerfully opposed by Baroness Sue Campbell, who suffers from spinal muscular atrophy. She told members of Parliament that approval would send the wrong signal and instill a sense of fear in those who are disabled and those who face death from illness. In a press release, Paul Tully, general secretary for the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, urged the Voluntary Euthanasia Society -- now called Dignity in Dying -- to drop its parliamentary campaign in the measure's defeat. He calls it offensive to disabled people and their caregivers. Baroness Campbell also argued that, if passed, the Falconer Amendment would send a message of despair to terminally ill people, adding that it would majorly change the way British culture regards disabled people. Another baroness pointed out the inadequacies of the amendment's medical provisions, while a lord claimed it would have led to discriminatory healthcare rationing. The amendment was defeated in the House of Lords by a vote of 194-141.
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