Will they do the decent thing?

The impression given by the piece at reference 1 is that is that it would be a big deal that maybe as many as 5,000 people a year, once they got to know that this was an option, might elect not to sit (or lie) it out in misery, with pain and without dignity. Maybe as many as 1% of the deaths reported in E&W by ONS.

What is the matter with us that we get into such a stir about all this? Do I really, at my age, have to get up and start writing letters to MPs and turning out for demonstrations in Westminster?

Will they, our MPs that is, do the decent thing without that?

I associate to the Romans of near 2,000 years ago, who seem to have been more sensible. See references 4 and 5.

PS 1: I learned later that BH was involved in a sixth form event about all this more than fifty years ago. Which I think was probably well before I took an interest: I can only remember reading a novel about a doctor getting himself into serious trouble by being a bit too relaxed about the supply of terminal morphine.

PS 2: Google gives more interesting results for '581,363' than Bing, but neither of them turn up on ONS. Presumably in a part of the ONS world which the search crawlers do not reach.

References

Reference 1: More than 4,500 people a year would use ‘assisted dying’, official estimates show: Whitehall assessment finds controversial measure could save NHS up to £60mn a year - Laura Hughes, Financial Times - 2025.

Reference 2: https://www.dignityindying.org.uk/.

Reference 3: ONS: 'There were 581,363 deaths registered in England and Wales in 2023'.

Reference 4: https://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.com/2010/01/its-your-funeral.html.

Reference 5: Emotion, restraint and community in ancient Rome - Robert A. Kaster - 2005. Pages 6 and 119.