Dr Philip Graham is the Vice-chair of Dignity in Dying. He spent most of his working life as a child and adolescent psychiatrist at the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, and as an academic at its associated medical school. Since retirement, Dr Graham has worked on a largely voluntary basis as Chairman of the National Children’s Bureau and as a Community Governor of a secondary school in a deprived area of London.
 

80% of the public agree to some extent with assisted dying. If the right to death is as important as the right to life, why isn’t this mirrored in our government policy?

The majority isn’t always right, as, for example, with capital punishment. But in this case, the majority is right. There are a variety of reasons for resistance. The strength and power of religious leaders; the fear that MPs have that, like Evan Harris, they will be given labels like Dr. Death which will lose them votes; the conservatism and patriarchy of the medical profession – all are significant factors.