Why talk about end of life care, assisted death and euthanasia in the United Kingdom now?
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Case:
There are approximately 24,000 patients in a vegetative state who are kept artificially alive at an average annual cost of £50600 per patient, allowing us to estimate these cost at £1,214 billion/year. If every patient's stop to receive health care, it would be this kind of saving.
This does not take into account tax returns caused by transfers of funds or property rights from deceased persons to possible beneficiaries, which can be estimated at a tax return of around £2 to 3.5 billion.
Considering that our government is facing a new financial hole of £23 billion, it becomes necessary to question the creation of a favourable law under certain conditions to the cessation of care for these people in a vegetative state.
Although the savings of stopping life care for patients in a vegetative state would only represent a 5.28% repayment of the £23 billion excess debt, the tax return estimate can represent between 8.7 and 15.2% of this excess debt.
The current British policy on stopping life care for vegetative people
(note 1).
Since a decision handed down on Monday, July 30, 2018 by the British Supreme Court, the agreement of the family and medical staff is now sufficient to stop treatment and let the patient die.
Across the Channel, judicial agreement is no longer essential to end the care of a patient in a permanent vegetative state.
According to this British Supreme Court, the agreement of the family and medical staff is now sufficient to stop treatment and let the patient die.
“No life is given up easily,” wrote Judge Jill Black in the decision rendered by the Supreme Court. “Yet there may come a time when life must be given up because it is in the best interest of the patient.” The judge added that the Court's decision was in line with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). According to the National Health Service (NHS), the British public health system, there are 24,000 patients across the country in a permanent vegetative or minimally conscious state. The new decision, which will apply in England and Wales, allows the Anglo-Saxons to align themselves with their European neighbours: in Belgium, France, Germany or Portugal, a court decision is not necessary to suspend care of a patient in a vegetative state. In Ireland, on the other hand, legal recourse is still required.
The government report of February 29
On February 29, the British Parliament has submitted a report on “assisted death”, without making “spectacular recommendations”. The inquiry [1] carried out by the Health and Social Care Committee was intended to serve as a basis for discussion to determine whether the law should be amended, but it did not require a debate in the House of Commons.
However, the Commission recommends that the Government “consider how to respond” if steps are taken to allow euthanasia in certain areas of the United Kingdom. Although the practice is currently illegal in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, territories, such as Jersey and the Isle of Man, have taken steps to legalize it.
Additionally, the Commission says the Government should ensure "universal access" to palliative care for the terminally ill, after hearing evidence of "uneven" end-of-life arrangements (see UK introduces a “right to palliative care”). Reacting to this report, Dr Gordon Macdonald, chief executive of Care Not Killing, regrets that MPs have not “firmly closed the door to assisted suicide and euthanasia”, while “we have seen the fragility of our health system, that underfunding is putting pressure on services and access to specific treatments and that the UK's extraordinary hospice movement is facing a £100 million funding crisis.”
Although a majority of citizens are against such a proposal, the public finance situation may force the British government to seriously consider this option of creating a law in favour of assisted euthanasia for certain patients whose quality of life is no longer there.
Note 1: Source: Bioedge, Michael Cook (02/29/2024)