The reason Bishops decry the bill on assisted dying is it is an article of faith that suicide is sinful.
That's it.
That's the reason.
The whole "we fear it will be open to abuse" presentation is window dressing for their religious conviction. In respect of which they have always insisted on their right to project their beliefs onto the rest of us. I'm done with governance by 'faith'. I want the right to choose, when the time comes, & cassocks to the bally bishops.
One of the most irritating aspects of British culture is the fact that as a nation we are, it seems, constituionally unable to look over the shoulders of other nations. Many, many other nations have already introduced various forms of assisted suicide - why not gather data from them about how it has panned out for them?
Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg (where I live) have all introduced assisted suicide. Switzerland has had it for some considerable time as have many other nations. The full(ish) list is:
Australia
Belgium
Canada
Colombia
Ecuador
Luxembourg
The Netherlands
New Zealand
Portugal
Spain
Switzerland
France has a slightly different take on on it: they allow physicians to place the terminally ill patient in an induced coma until natural death intervenes. I see no problem with that as the idea is to alleviate suffering if that goal is achived; the method matters little. However, it must be hell for the relatives!
