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Assisted Dying

My Lords, helping people to kill themselves is often portrayed as something humane and harmless, but the noble Lord, Lord Joffe, told the Select Committee that it was just "a first stage". The noble Baroness, Lady Warnock, said in September 2008: ""If you’re demented, you’re wasting people's lives—your family’s lives—and you’re wasting the resources of the National Health Service"," and that if you are old and sick and thinking of dying, ""there is nothing wrong with feeling you ought to do so"." Those remarks were condemned by Alzheimer’s charities, but the pressure is on for involuntary euthanasia. Alison Davis was severely disabled at birth with multiple defects. She bravely bore all these until she was diagnosed with an incurable disease. Her repeated requests for euthanasia were refused, and there followed three serious suicide attempts. She was rescued by her friends, who persuaded her that her life was worth living. She formed a charity looking after orphans in India and has found the past 15 years the happiest that she has ever had. She said to the Select Committee that if euthanasia had been legalised, she would have been deprived of the best years of her life. What have noble Lords to say to that?