Noel's assisted dying plea to candidates
A terminally ill man fighting to change the law on assisted dying has called on voters to consider their candidates position on the issue when they go to the polls today – and let whoever wins know their views.
Noel Conway, a retired lecturer who suffers from Motor Neurone Disease, was given the go-ahead to contest the law on assisted dying in a judicial review at the High Court in April.
The 67-year-old Shrewsbury man has now issued a plea to voters ahead of today's General Election.
He said: "My condition is incurable and terminal. I know I will deteriorate until my breathing stops altogether or I become completely paralysed. I am faced with a death that I see as intolerable.
"The current law is broken. It allows me to kill myself, but does not allow me access to a pain-free and medically prescribed means of death; it allows me to travel abroad to obtain a medically supervised assisted death, but anyone who helps me could face criminal investigation; it allows a doctor to relieve my suffering by giving me a life-shortening dose of medication but does not allow a doctor to prescribe medication to allow me to control my death at a time of my choosing.
"During the last parliament, MPs were presented with an opportunity to reform the law and create a more compassionate approach that would have entrusted me with the choice to control my death. They refused to do so. That is why I have launched a legal challenge.
"My case will ask the courts to make a declaration that the blanket ban on assisted dying is incompatible with the rights of dying people like me.
"Even with that declaration, however, MPs will have an integral role on agreeing a new law. That’s why it’s important that people standing for election know the strength of feeling in the country.
"82 per cent of Britons want to see a change to allow this. Hundreds, if not thousands, of terminally ill people like me would find reassurance in knowing this option was available to them. No more families would be left with the memories of the undignified deaths of their loved ones. We all deserve better in our last weeks and months of life.
"I’m not just trying to change the law just for myself. Even if my case is successful, it may not come in time for me. I want the law to change so that dying people, and our country as a whole, can say we live in a land that offers people real choice when they face suffering at the end of life. I know we would, and I hope we can, benefit hugely from such a change.
"We need to be sure that MPs in the next Parliament are fully informed of the huge support for our campaign and the need for a new law. Please contact your candidates and tell them that you support assisted dying for terminally ill, mentally competent adults," he said.
Those supporting Mr Conway's plight can do so at the Dignity in Dying website at secure.dignityindying.org.uk/email-ppc
