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Some groups of terminally ill patients are twice as likely to die by suicide, data show

BMJ 2022; 377 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.o1014 (Published 21 April 2022) Cite this as: BMJ 2022;377:o1014
  1. Richard Hurley
  1. The BMJ

Patients with some serious conditions are twice as likely as the general population to kill themselves, an analysis published by the Office for National Statistics shows.1

The findings “illustrate the dangers of this country’s ban on assisted dying and add to growing evidence that the laws that govern how we die in this country lack compassion and are in urgent need of reform,” Jacky Davis, a consultant radiologist and chair of Healthcare Professionals for Assisted Dying, told The BMJ.

“My brother took his own life while terminally ill with cancer. He died alone without being able to say goodbye to his family. Like so many terminally ill people in this country he simply wanted control over how he died and the only option available to him was to take matters into his …

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