Assisted Dying Bill tomorrow.

[TooBigForMyBoots]

I really hope this goes ahead.

I'm from a family who die from cancer. It's a genetic thing. Over the years I've watched numerous loved ones die from this cruel and ravaging disease. It has taken a massive toll on us. From PTSD to immense guilt, complicated grief and fear of the future.

Not all of my family would have accessed Assisted Dying, but I know some did want it and requested it in the weeks / days leading to their death. They should have had the option of shortening their suffering. Having witnessed what they went through, I want that option for myself.

I want it for my mother. For the past 20 years she has told me when she wants out and how I will have to help her achieve it. I don't want to. She apologises for putting it on me. She shouldn't have to.

No one will be saved if this Bill is stopped, but fear and suffering will be reduced.

Yes.

Absolutely.

Rather that than state sanctioned drugs eh?

First comment is from someone who already wants the bill extended to include those living with chronic conditions. The bill is for those in the last 6 months of life. But disabled people like me say it will be quickly extended to include others.
As Liz Carr says, many disabled people are still fighting for a right to life.
Many able bodied people think disabled people's lives are not worth living, including some who work in the NHS.

And assisted dying will not remove pain. Some people will still die in pain. It ends their life sooner, that is all.

I have been watching this too. People don't realise that even the best palliative can't stop you having an horrific, agonising death. That is the state sanctioned status quo.

Well, it will give people the choice of dying in pain or dying peacefully. You will no longer be forced to die in pain by the state.

Except that it absolutely is a slippery slope. You are naive if you think it isn’t.

Right now people say “you wouldn’t put an animal through that, so why a cancer patient.”

If this becomes legal people will say “you wouldn’t put a cancer patient through that, so why someone who is old/disabled/has some other kind of condition.”
There are people on these threads who think that this will extend to dementia patients for instance and it won’t. Except that if it becomes legal people will campaign for the next acceptance level, and the next, and the next.

We already have people on these threads saying that this will just be the beginning, and hopefully when their time comes the law will have changed…. Etc.

The reality is that the majority of people are for this bill because the majority want to be able to euthanise the sick, the elderly, the disabled, the mentally ill. Already we’ve had people say things like “but why shouldn’t I be able to end my life if I’m mentally ill”, or “If I became disabled in an accident, I wouldn’t want to live.”

In an ideal world it would be your body your choice. Except it wouldn’t be. There’s already an element of the bill where someone can sign for someone else. So the cracks are already there.

Well hemlock and foxglove very poisonous seeds just looked it up seems the win to me if they don’t pass it I now know a way out

You are wrong. We know from assisted dying elsewhere some still die in pain. They simply die early.

@CandyMaker if you opt for assisted dying you will relieve yourself of pain, that is the point. You are wrong.

I think the Bill is a slippery slope that doesn’t have enough safeguards to protect life. I am quite pro life anyway and believe that it is not upto the state to decide who lives and who dies.

So it’ll be a no.

This concerns me. So many supporters who do not understand what they support.
If you are in pain, you can still die a painful death. Assisted dying kills you that is all.

With regard DNAR in (elderly) care homes, surely that would almost always be the default anyway? Resuscitation is brutal and you need to be quite robust for it, even in young people ribs are often broken. So let's say by a small chance it's successful, and the person survived. You now have an extremely frail elderly person, in very poor health, now bed bound with all their ribs broken living for a few extra weeks.
I certainly wouldn't want that outcome for myself.

"The reality is that the majority of people are for this bill because the majority want to be able to euthanise the sick, the elderly, the disabled, the mentally ill. Already we’ve had people say things like “but why shouldn’t I be able to end my life if I’m mentally ill”, or “If I became disabled in an accident, I wouldn’t want to live.”

I agree with this comment above. The very first comment on this thread is from someone who works in the NHS who says chronically ill people in pain or distress should be eligible for assisted suicide as it is no life.

It's looking like it'll go ahead,going by recent polls 😔

It certainly brings to the fore that religion has no place in politics.

I wonder if one extra safeguard might be to introduce some sort of legal contract people who don't want assisted dying can sign saying they never want this for themselves under any circumstances?
It's completely unnecessary imo but might take some worry away it they could sign some sort of 'not for me' register.
I don't think it would placate people because I think they want to stop others, who desperately want it, using this to ease their own passing. It might be something though.

I'm watching live. Voting result expected in 10 mins.

👏🏼

Or sooner, by the looks of it ...

I'm glad if this debate has brought a sharper focus to MPs about palliative care and quality of life care for people with disabilities. No, they are not good enough.

Edited to make sense ...

Opting out isn’t a strong enough safeguard.

Look at Canada for slippery slopes!

Let's do it differently then, like our Parliament has done with self-ID?

Through to second reading. Majority 55.

I wonder if there are any numbers in the UK for people with terminal illness who have killed themselves? I had a quick look but couldn't see a breakdown.

@Kendodd the DNR in care homes during covid included blanket DNR in homes for people with learning disabilities.