UK assisted suicide bill sponsor says there will be less than 1000 deaths per year.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, 

Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Don't believe Kim Leadbeater when she claims that there will be:

Fewer than 1,000 patients a year in England and Wales are expected to choose assisted dying should the law pass,

The UK assisted suicide law shouldn't be supported even if it were limited to less than 1000 deaths per year, nonetheless, Leadbeater's comments are reminiscent of the comments made by Gaétan Barrette, Québec's Heath Minister when Québec legalized euthanasia who stated that there would only be 100 deaths per year.

Both Leadbeater and Barrette claimed that the numbers of deaths would be low and they argued that they were introducing the "tightest" regime in the world.

Gaétan Barrette

It didn't take very long for Barrette to be proven wrong. An article by Caroline Plante that was published by the Montreal Gazette, on October 27, 2016 explained that in the first 7 months of the law there had already been nearly triple the number of projected euthanasia deaths. Plante reported:

The minister presented Quebec’s end-of-life care commission’s first report at the National Assembly on Thursday. He expressed surprise that since the law came into effect Dec. 10, 2015, 262 people have resorted to what the provincial government calls “end-of-life care” and what Ottawa refers to as voluntary euthanasia.

“I mentioned many times that I was expecting about 100,” Barrette said during the news conference. “It’s almost three times that. Actually, on a one-year period, it will be over 300 … that in itself is surprising to me.”

Barrette then stated that the number of euthanasia deaths was low compared to the Netherlands which was disingenuous since the Netherlands had legalized euthansaia in 2001 and had a track record with yearly euthanasia increases.

What Barrette did not say in the Québec National Assembly was that 14% of the euthanasia deaths did not comply with the law.

Leadbeater should be aware that in 2023 Québec had 5686 euthanasia deaths which represented the highest euthanasia rate in the world at 7.3% of all deaths. 

If legalized, how long will it take for the UK to rival the number of Québec euthanasia deaths?

Leadbeater is following the same strategy manual as other jurisdictions by claiming that their legislation is "tight" and minimizing the projections of deaths. 

After legalization they will expand the law, based on equality and compassion, by either eliminating some of the "safeguards" or by changing the interpretation of the law to enable more killing.