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FORMER ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY SAYS ASSISTED DYING IS 'A GREAT ACT OF LOVE'
Former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey has joined calls for Parliament to be given time to debate assisted dying.
By Hanna Geissler, Daily Express Health Editor
THE DAILY EXPRESS
May 30, 2023
Lord Carey said it would be "an act of great generosity, kindness and human love" to help someone end their suffering if they choose to do so.
His views were set out in a submission to the Commons Health and Social Care Committee's assisted dying inquiry.
He wrote: "It is profoundly Christian to do all we can to ensure nobody suffers against their wishes. Some people believe they will find meaning in their own suffering in their final months and weeks of life. I respect that, but it cannot be justified to expect others to share that belief."
He said the Bible "contributes nothing directly to this debate" and that nothing in Christian teaching addresses the problem posed by the advancement of modern medicine.
Both euthanasia and assisted suicide are illegal under English law.
The Daily Express Give Us Our Last Rights crusade is backing calls for a change in the law to allow adults who are terminally ill with less than six months to live to end their lives with medical assistance.
Lord Carey, 87, told MPs that in such cases assisted dying could "properly be understood as merely hastening death, not causing it".
He explained: "It confirms that the person is not choosing between care and death but between two types of dying.
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