Assisted dying - a question of misplaced trust

Far from protecting the weak, assisted dying laws will make things harder for many of the more vulnerable people in society. Is there, for example, a bottom age limit for making such a choice? What should that limit be?

In some pro-assisted-death regions, laws allow 12 to 15-year-olds to request euthanasia, as long as they are making a voluntary and well-considered choice, with their parents agreement. We all know how impressionable and vulnerable 12-year-olds can be, which is why we have such tight laws to protect them from pornographers, for example.

So, how can 12-year-olds be expected to make a totally independent and well-considered decision to end their lives – especially when they're seriously ill? And what message are we sending our children, when we tell them that, under certain circumstances, their best hope in life may be death?

Some people will use a 'quality of life' argument to defend assisted dying. For example, if a person can no longer do something they love, which has provided their life with meaning and joy, they should be free to choose to die.

Understandably, people of great distinction in any field will be loathe to lose the facility that has made their name, or through which they have enriched the lives of others. Yet there may well be other ways in which their example can serve not only theirs, but future generations.

Indeed, the generational impact of right-to-die laws is one of the most powerful arguments against them. What one generation allows but barely tolerates, a new generation may decide to use as its base camp for further assaults on life.

If we allow assisted dying today, will we allow involuntary euthanasia in twenty years from now? This may be unthinkable now, but quality of life arguments similar to those used by assisted dying advocates could be – and have been – made to support it.

Assisted dying, like euthanasia, may seem a merciful option for those who face an uncertain future due to the onset of age-related illness. It may appear the most humane way out for those to whom medical science offers only a limited hope for recovery.

Yet heroic stories emerge all the time, of people young and old who beat the odds – not necessarily by ridding themselves of disease, but by refusing to cower in its shadow. These people refuse to surrender long-held dreams, often doing the most daring things as they approach the end of life.

This unwillingness to go quietly, this commitment to leave a legacy of hope in the face of adversity, is something we celebrate. It is a form of heroism that inspires us all to do more, to live more fully whatever our situation.

We would all wish for a quiet, peaceful and painless death. But trying to ensure this through the introduction of assisted dying is a recipe for social confusion and the breakdown of hope.