Suicide Rate for Terminally Ill Doubles

Data showing that terminally ill people are twice as likely to kill themselves than the general population has pushed MPs and charities to warn that assisted dying laws must change.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed that people with chronic lung conditions and cancers that are likely to be fatal are around two-and-a-half times more likely to end their lives than those without such conditions.

The data was commissioned last April by former health secretary Matt Hancock in order to inform the debate on assisted dying. The Assisted Dying Bill passed its second reading in the House of Lords unopposed last year, although due to parliamentary time constraints and opposition from ministers it is not expected to become law.

The ONS data shows that between January 2017 and March 2020, 17,195 people died by suicide - including 455 people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and 58 with low-survival-rate cancers. The ONS said that in many instances, people diagnosed with these conditions would meet the definition of having a terminal illness.

The suicide rate for people one year after being diagnosed with low-survival-rate cancer was 2.4 times higher than those without. At 22.2 deaths per 100,000 people compared with 9.1 deaths per 100,000, the rate was slightly higher for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at 23.6 deaths per 100,000 people.

Chief executive of the campaign group Dignity in Dying, Sarah Wootton said: "The data confirm that the blanket ban on assisted dying is not only uncompassionate and unequal, but deeply unsafe for our terminally ill citizens".