To be very anxious about the assisted dying bill?

I mean it's like the age old dilemma... would you rather see a thousand criminals go free or one innocent person imprisoned?

I think even if one person is coerced into choosing this option, it's not worth it....

I think if one person is permitted the dignified painless death they request instead of dying in agony it’s absolutely worth it.

How many people died in the Netherlands in total though, ...the population figure is irrelevant. The entire population didn't die.

That's what I thought until I read about the cases in Canada where disabled people had requested assistance and had been offered assisted suicide instead.

I think even if one person is coerced into choosing this option, it's not worth it....

And being anxious about this is perfectly understandable.

And as you can see from this thread, any concerns are swept under the carpet or mocked.

It's perfectly reasonable to want to know if doctors will be able to suggest it first.
It's also reasonable to want to know which doctors are prepared to do it. It's also fine to want to know whether parameters will be widened in the future.
Will doctors have a clear set of guidelines regarding how they are allowed to discuss this with patients?

No that’s not right. The population of the Netherlands is approx 18million. Death by euthanasia in 2024 was
9,958.

Very much no where near 20%. More like 0.5% or even 0.05 (anyone better at maths than me??)

We are concerned that it will be widened to people with learning disabilities. DD1 has LD, and a life threatening condition, which costs the NHS a lot. She lives in a specialist care home, full of residents similar to her; and there’s others.

The government is trying to get rid of the vulnerable - look at the proposed cuts to PIP? As PP have said, the world is overpopulated and how are the majority of people going to earn a living when AI really gets going?

You are not being unreasonable. Your anxiety is entirely understandable. This is because you have been misled by deliberate fearmongering, exaggeration & dishonesty in the press and by commentators who - often opposed to the Bill on religious grounds- have pretended that it is an inevitable death sentence for disabled people and the elderly.

It is not.

It is noticeable that much of the attack on the Bill comes from right ring press - Mail, Times, Telegraph - and from right wing commentators who are all in favour of the reduction in disability benefits. There is a reason why the right ring press want you thinking about this Bill, rather than the loss of PIP payments, winter fuel allowance, war, etc!

Making you afraid of an imaginary threat distracts your attention from the things that actually threaten your well-being & health & prosperity.

I recommend going to the Parliament.uk website and actually reading the Bill. (It is not long.) This may put your mind at rest.

(I have a disability btw.)

Lots of people confuse having any sort of mental illness with lacking capacity to make serious decisions. I have chronic suicidal ideation and I have diagnosed mental health disorders. I also have capacity to make the decisions around my end of life treatment - I have an advanced directive in place that went though scrutiny by my GP and Consultant Psychiatrist before it was added to my medical records.

I’m happy it’s been approved and I hope it is opened up to people like myself in the future. For me, I’d rather have the choice to end my life surrounded by people I love than have to commit suicide, using unreliable and violent methods whilst I was alone.

No it wasn’t. Nonetheless almost two out of three British people are in favour of it.

This wasn't in the election manifesto was it?

No, its a private members bill. The government wouldn't have been bold enough to include it.

This wasn't in the election manifesto was it?

I’m not sure about Canada but the Netherlands is 1 in 20 deaths are by euthanasia. I think it’s worth noting that despite widening criteria to unbearable suffering there the vast majority of deaths are people suffering with terminal diseases.

@HostaCentral that's really shocking and
scary. I'm so sorry you all went through that.

Do you believe that politicians and governments in countries with assisted dying have suddenly thought to themselves, we really must alleviate suffering? Or we really suddenly care about people?

I believe they’ve carried out the wishes of the people who democratically elected them. 63% of the UK population is in favour of it.

I’m theoretically in favour of the bill under the principle of personal choice but I’m concerned about safeguarding and coercion. Further down the line the worry would be expansion of the criteria to include groups who would be particularly vulnerable such as the elderly without a terminal diagnosis or anyone with a mental illness. You only need to look at Canada to see how this can go disastrously wrong.

My other concern is that palliative care will go on being under funded and generally neglected and may even get worse.

As I said I am generally in favour of the bill and I don’t want to see it thrown out but there are worrying aspects for me.

Sorry you feel scared about it @bipbopdo . Why are you scared?

I think it’s a fantastic development. I was surprised, but extremely relieved when it passed.

It’s about choice. Choose to live or choose to die - it’s your decision. In a- what would be - hideous situation.

Yup. This.

Our most recent brush with the idiocy of current medical practice was DH's mum. 89 years old, multiple painful conditions, house bound for the last 5 years. Ended up in hospital after a fall at home, contracted pneumonia. She was begging to be let go.

Doctors response to our requesting increased pain medication as she was writing around in agony, having been denied her own medications, prescribed by her own GP "Oh, we don't want to do that, it might hasten her death".

She died two days later.

My dear friend’s sister had to fly to Switzerland to end her life. She went alone so that no one could be accused of assisting her.

i understand your anxiety and have listened carefully to both sides of the debate. On balance, I think it is a necessary option. That’s different by far to a good thing.

Ok but could you ever forsee a time where doctors are under huge pressure due to not enough capacity within their local healthcare system so they gently push a leaflet into your hand? It doesn't seem particularly beyond the realms of possibility to me.

Oh and I'd also like to know whether doctors will be able to suggest this or will it have to be requested? I also wonder whether the public will be told which doctors are happy to help assist in this task because I'd like to refuse treatment from any doctor who is prepared to do it

But doctors can already discuss end of life care, and should. They can discuss DNR's and patients can request no treatment to prolong life. We SHOULD all be discussion how we want our lives to end.

Where did you get the 1 in 20
source from?

But putting aside him and the cost to the NHS....overall within society, if the parameters widen over time and I see no reason why they wouldn't....and I'm talking worldwide as well as the UK, once you start to include those with long term conditions, disabilities, mental illness etc then worldwide governments will save money

Do you believe that politicians and governments in countries with assisted dying have suddenly thought to themselves, we really must alleviate suffering? Or we really suddenly care about people?

The world has too many people in it... birthrates particularly in developed countries are falling.... people are just living longer and it's causing all sorts of cost issues within society... unpalatable I'm afraid but true

My relative was in a home for the last 10yrs of their life, nearly 100 when they died.
They had all the POA, DNR, no extraordinary measures, no hospital etc in place from mid 80’s. But unfortunately what happened in practice was that they’d have a ‘funny turn’ in the evening/night ( never happened once during dayshift to my recollection) the perhaps more inexperienced carers would call an ambulance (for fear of being sued i suspect) quickest way of the paramedics to make it someone else’s problem was to take to A+E, where they'd eventually be shipped off to the Medical ward which seems to be where all the oldies with dementia were corralled. It was an absolutely horrific place, screaming and shouting and worse at all hours. The trouble is once you are in the system, it seems to be virtually impossible to refuse treatment.
They would have chosen AD in a heartbeat if they'd known how they would have ended up. So would I for myself.