Suicide risk for terminally ill is more than double the general population

People with severe and terminal health conditions are more than twice as likely to take their own lives than the general population, according to new data from the Office for National Statistics.

The ONS data was commissioned last year to help inform the assisted dying debate, after preliminary data showed one in seven suicides are by people with experience of cancer, neurological, heart or lung disease.

Last year, former Formula 1 boss, Max Mosley shot himself after finding his cancer was terminal. The 81-year-old had been in debilitating pain.

The charity Dignity in Dying estimates that up to 650 terminally ill people take their own lives every year in the UK. On top of this an average of 50 Britons travel to Switzerland every year for an assisted death costing upwards of £10,000.

The ONS (Office for National Statistics) examined suicide rates and found those with low survival cancers are at 2.4 times higher risk of suicide than those without, those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) also at 2.4 times higher risk and those with chronic ischemic heart conditions are at nearly two times higher risk.

'Unforgiveable' and 'inhumane'

Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of mental health charity SANE, called it “unforgiveable and inhumane that people who are dying should have to resort to ending their lives alone and abandoned” adding “but this data indicates that this is the case for many under the current law”.

She said: “We need a change in the law on assisted dying so that terminally ill people can explore their wishes fully and openly, access mental health support where necessary, and choose to be able to die on their own terms in safety and with protection.”

Gareth Ward from Essex believes his father Norman who was terminally ill with prostate cancer, would have chosen assisted dying instead of suicide if it was a legal option in this country.

He said: “Dad was in a world of pain every day after the prostate cancer spread to his bones and lungs, his weight had plummeted and he suffered a stroke which severely affected his mobility and vision. He would talk flippantly of ending his life but no one thought he would do it, or that he’d have the strength to retrieve his gun from the locked box in the attic.

“What Dad did was not suicide; he was just trying to take control in the only way he could. I have no doubt that had there been the option of an assisted death he would have taken it. We could have all been there, gathered around his bed to say goodbye. He could have died calmly rather than in the most horrific manner possible.”

'Damning indictment on end-of-life choice in this country'

The Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP, co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Choice at the End of Life, said: “That so many terminally ill people feel their only option is to take their own life is a damning indictment on end-of-life choice in this country, and entirely unacceptable in a healthcare system that supposedly values patient safety and compassion.”

Sarah Wootton, chief executive of Dignity in Dying, added: “Dignity in Dying has long raised the alarm that terminally ill people are taking their own lives under the ban on assisted dying. This data proves that these deaths are not isolated tragedies but warning signs that the current law has serious patient safety implications for dying people which can no longer be ignored.”

Dignity in Dying is campaigning for a change in the law to allow assisted dying as a choice for terminally ill, mentally competent adults, subject to strict safeguards and alongside access to high quality palliative care.

Ms Wootton said: "Those who block reform on assisted dying are defending a law that puts vulnerable people at risk and fails to provide adequate choice or protection - the very basics of good end-of-life care."

A Private Member’s Bill on Assisted Dying brought by Dignity in Dying chair Baroness Meacher passed its Second Reading unopposed in the House of Lords in October, though the charity believes it is unlikely to be allotted time for Committee Stage before all non-government bills automatically fall at the State Opening of Parliament next month.

In Scotland, a public consultation on an Assisted Dying Bill Proposal recently received an unprecedented response, with a report due in the coming months and a vote in the Scottish Parliament expected next year.

Assisted dying is currently banned in England and Wales under the Suicide Act (1961), and in Northern Ireland under the Criminal Justice Act (1966) which states that anyone who “encourages or assists a suicide” is liable to up to 14 years in prison. There is no specific crime of assisting a suicide in Scotland, but it is possible that helping a person to die could lead to prosecution for culpable homicide.