Assisted suicide puts a price on my head.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Kate Ferguson reported for The Sun News that Lord Kevin Shinkwin, a member of the House of Lords, considers the UK assisted suicide bill, that narrowly passed in the UK House of Commons, said that if the assisted suicide bill was legalized in the past that he would not be alive today. Ferguson wrote:

Lord Kevin Shinkwin said the Terminally Ill Adults Bill “puts a price on my head” and he would have felt pressure to agree to having a lethal injection over fear of being a burden.

The Tory's warning comes as campaigners vow to fight the assisted dying bill in the Lords after MPs narrowly backed it by just 23 votes on Friday.

Lord Shinkwin, 54, is a disability rights campaigner who has a severe form of brittle bone disease.

Ferguson further reported Lord Shinkwin as stating:

He said: “I am a disabled person. I cost the NHS, over the course of my lifetime, probably several million pounds to keep me alive.

“This Bill would put a price on my head — on the head of so many disabled people.”

When asked if he would be alive today if assisted suicide was already legal, Shinkwin responded:

“I think you have hit the nail on the head.

"Absolutely. I was in intensive care a few months ago, and had a doctor come over to me when I was extremely vulnerable and said, ‘Have you considered assisted dying?’, I would have felt under real pressure to do that.”

Ferguson reported that Shinkwin hopes to amend the assisted suicide bill while other peers are working to prevent the bill from passing.