Dignity in dying

Towards the end of the post at reference 1, I extrapolated the assisted deaths in Oregon, 0.4% of the total, to the UK, arriving at a number of 2,500 deaths a year out of 500,000. With the thought there being that this was not a large enough number to devote significant campaigning resources to. There were plenty of other, larger problems to solve.

Then this afternoon, Microsoft News brought me a piece from the Guardian about assisted deaths in the Netherlands, where it might be called euthanasia. There, assisted deaths run at around 6,000 a year, 4% of the total, ten times the rate in Oregon. I have not idea why this might be so, but I would start with there being a lot more Jesus people in the US than in most other rich countries.

In the UK, which I imagine would be more like the Netherlands than the US as far as this sort of thing went, this translates to 25,000 rather than the 2,500 of last year. 25,000 people who presently die in undignified and miserable circumstances and who would rather expedite matters. So a lot of misery; not the marginal problem I was suggesting at all.

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/08/dignity-in-dying.html.

Reference 2: https://cdn.dignityindying.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/DiD_ASSISTED-DYING-IN-OREGON_REPORT_AW_9_SINGLE-PAGES.pdf. A 2018 report from Dignity in Dying about assisted dying in Oregon.

Reference 3: https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2017/04/number-of-official-cases-of-euthanasia-rise-10-in-the-netherlands/. A 2017 media report about assisted dying in the Netherlands.

Reference 4: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/14/dutch-government-backs-euthanasia-for-under-12s. Today's report in the Guardian. From which I learn that the Netherlands has gone a lot further than the people at Dignity in Dying.