I’ve been asked several times now about my thoughts of the assisted dying bill which was debated so eloquently in the commons recently
I am clear in my response to it
I am against it
And I will tell you for why
Dying is a normal progress, but it can illicit difficult symptoms which can be a challenge to live with.
Good and proper palliative care can rectify most if not all of these symptoms, but this care is at best patchy and at worst non existent so it a lottery for many that they receive prudent end of life care.
The government needs to fund hospice care properly for this to start to happen.
Everyone should have access to the hospices’ ability to control pain, and breathlessness, delirium and agitation and fear and anxiety
And that has to be done before we enter into the minefield of giving end of life patients medication they have to take themselves
The paralysed, the Motor neurone, the CVA patients , who it could be argued all need this bill passing more than anyone else , will at the moment never “ benefit” from it so let’s bench mark care to a good standard universally before we set a standard for those who’ve had enough
A very good response. When I found out that Hospices are not completely Government funded I was horrified. It really is a lottery as to whether you can get this when you need it.
ReplyDeleteHow on earth hospices ended up outside the orbit of the NHS is a puzzle to me. They do such vital, important work as the end of life approaches. My younger brother Simon died two years ago in Dove House Hospice in Hull. The people there were marvellous. But why should hospices have to fight for funding? It's so wrong.
ReplyDeleteMy mother and other family members were on hospice. The hospice people were wonderful and gave their patients/my loved ones superb care and respect. I don’t know if hospices here in the U.S. get any government funding. As I recall mom’s Insurance covered her costs.
ReplyDeleteIt is horrifying. I am shocked we have come to this, but not surprised. It feels like we were just beginning to orbit around good palliative care only to be torn away and thrown into assisted suicide (which is what it is at it’s rosiest), euthanasia and, quite frankly, a cull. Still. It’ll save the government a quid or two. Wars don’t fund themselves you know.
ReplyDeleteWell said and your words are based on excellent, experienced common sense. Don't exclude by wording those who might most need an exit option. How pinheaded of those politicians.
ReplyDeleteHugs!
I understand your feelings on it, but I also understand that some people who are dying feel very differently on it. I guess I would side with their choice in their situation as long as I could be assured that it was their choice.
ReplyDeleteIn many ways I agree with you, but my choice has been clouded by my own work
DeleteWhat about those of us who don't want to have hospice care? I'm not interested in lingering while someone controls my pain. If you are that ill, the end is inevitable, why hang around? If you want hospice care that should be your choice. It should also be a choice to be handed appropriate drugs that will let you not have to go through that if you don't want to. This is all about choice and the fact that for those of us who don't want to go through the system until the bitter painful end the only choice currently is to gamble on trying to kill ourselves.
ReplyDeleteJane , I understand your point of view
DeleteWhile I agree that hospice care needs to be expanded, I think Medical assistance in dying gives back control to people who have lost all control of their lives. I have had a number of patients (stage 4 bowel cancer, stage 4 lymphoma, ALS, to name a few) who have used it and I fulled supported their decision. It's not my place to decide how or when people die. As for myself, if I am unremitting pain, or the end is near, or if I have dementia, I will avail myself of it.
ReplyDeleteThe British bill will not support ALS sufferers as their life expectancy is usually not guessable
DeletePixie, I can see me fighting for such a bill in the future
DeleteThanks for your enlightened perspective on this. Personally, I feel that this has been dumped onto MPs without any real discussion of the many repercussions, and without any real examination of how such legislation has worked out in other countries. I don't think that there has been enough time for discussion and reflection, and I am not hopeful that the committee stages will address many of the issues.
ReplyDeleteI am baffled at the role of the judge
DeleteWhat are they going to check on ? Capacity ?
I respect your view but disagree. We interfere with other normal processes to prolong life and I fervently hope that when my time comes and I have had enough I can make a peaceful exit at a time of my choosing.
ReplyDeleteI understand that and I hope you get what you want at the time
DeleteI agree, and disagree with you, John. I agree that good, effective palliative care should be available to all. That it is a lottery whether someone gets it is a national disgrace. And why hospice care is basically charity funded and not under the aegis of the NHS, I find amazing.
ReplyDeleteI disagree, in that I do feel that the choice of how and when to die should be made by the individual. What one person finds intolerable, another may find acceptable. We are all different. What I do find difficult is the question of consent. If someone doesn't have capacity, that choice isn't there anyway. It's certainly a thorny problem, and none of it is black or white. I do know, that if I was ever in that position, I would like the choice - good palliative care or assisted dying. Which choice I would make, I don't know. xx
Nicely put. I don’t disagree with assisted dying I just think palliative care should be better and open to all FIRST
DeleteI want to end myself before I wear a nappy
ReplyDeleteLee
I agree with everything you say about hospices and palliative care, but I also feel that people have become disassociated from death in our midst. Our tiny nuclear families no longer have aged relatives nodding away in their chairs, as I saw in my childhood. If my pain can be managed then I want to hang on for every single day I can.
ReplyDeleteI think you are too young to have the right perspective. I think when you get to a certain age and have had enough, you should have control of your end of life decisions. In Canada you don’t have to take the medication yourself, it is injected into your iv. But you must be able to consent right before. My husband was ok’d for MAID but the ok came to late and he died a day before. Gigi
ReplyDeleteWe have awful care for older people here. I refuse to go to a care home and would rather die. Period. Gigi
ReplyDelete