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.

Rubbish. Two Doctors and a Judge have to agree this. That is more than adequate safeguarding.

Yes it does.

How can you possibly know that. The coerced person is dead.

If someone tells the medics they want to die there’s no way of knowing they haven’t been coerced into it.

In Belgium the law allows for elderly couples to be euthanised together so one is not left behind. They have freely admitted that the process is rife with coercion and that it’s not uncommon to prevent it in some circumstances.

And it won’t even necessarily be coercion. It will be suggestion. “I’m afraid there’s nothing more we can do for you. The best thing may be for you to consider if/when you would like us to assist you to die.”

What about the disabled. Labour are trying to reduce the benefits bill, I guess that euthanising them would be a sure way to do that.

You are totally wrong. Two medical staff, it does not have to be Drs, have to agree this. It has to be passed by a High Court judge. There is not enough court space already to hear cases, so this will be a rubber stamping. It is physically impossible to be anything but this. Or did you imagine a High Court judge would listen to thorough details of each case before granting it? Lol!!

Do you think we'll be allowed to have a note on our medical record explicitly stating we do not want this?

It's all about money. Lol at the fools who truly believe the government cares about suffering

The second doctor can be picked by the first doctor. There is no detail on what information the judge will have or what their role will be. There is no mechanism to investigate doctors who are acting unethically or unlawfully. When you are talking about handing the state the ability to kill you really need better systems in place than this bill provides.

Imagine an area with few hospital beds and no available spaces in a hospice ...what's the betting they'll have higher rates of this?

And whose going to be checking the terminal with less than six months diagnosis?

And lots of Drs have already publicly said that guessing how long someone has to live is very hard. My FIL lived for about 14 months after being put on the 6 months to live pathway.

Exactly. I read it could even be a teacher or someone withstanding. FFS the same people you'd ask to sign for a passport 🤦‍♀️😡

I think that is for the proxy. If you can't agree to this someone else can agree on your behalf, and it doesn't need to be someone you know.

Well, the government might not, but I certainly do.

I have had the most wonderful life and I don't want to suffer when it is my time to die.

I have the right to decide that.

I think it’s so complicated. When he was well, my dad would have says he would want the right to decide to end his life. But when he had a terminal disease, a really primal urge to live seemed to kick in, and he would never even counter it.

There is a young person in our family with multiple complex genetic diseases, and his mother is terrified of this bill. Lots of people would say her son’s quality of life is ‘poor’ from the outside but she knows otherwise and he is a multifaceted person in his own right. She has made a photo book to ‘prove’ his quality of life in case of a situation like an accident where she is killed and her he requires resuscitation, to prove it would be worth it. Horrendous.

It does have to be two medical staff who agree to your killing. It does not have to be Drs. There could be a new medical job set up? Assisted Killing Co-ordinator? Go through this tickbox form with the patient and of all the boxes are ticked get your colleague to sign the form, and then send it to the court for rubber stamping.

It's a sick thought isn't it...

And I think the former, especially given the likely numbers involved on either side and the timescales we are talking about

That is the reality. A lot of people are still fighting for a right to life.

And why fund palliative care? It is up to you if you want to live but why should the NHS fund your care when it funds assisted killing?

I've only learnt recently that hospices are only partly funded by the NHS...vast majority of their money has to be fundraiser.

Note the government aren't dealing with this issue but are happy to get doctors to kill us

The why absolutely does matter.

The bill has passed.

Thank you MrsSchrute My mistake (ironically- caring responsibilities have been demanding my attention)
Sorry. Yes- doctors can opt out. As would be vital. Thank goodness. Very relieved to be corrected.

Judges get no right to conscientiously object and opt out though, which they really need to have for their own sake and that of the person applying for assisted dying.
The bill itself has only been available for just over two weeks. Published 11 November. It’s way too soon to have set it in motion like this.

imagine living in agony in a hospital ward for several months before dying, all the lovely memories of life you built up replaced by looking at 4 walls, a curtain, sick people, and medical equipment and staff

Completely agree with this.

It's a balance of potential harms and I think that not facilitating AD is far worse in terms of the unnecessary suffering and pain that this causes.

I am not denying that coersion is a risk, but in my experience a risk that is never considered is that families and friends refuse to listen to those in pain and suffering that want to die. Their grief is too great to logically accept that their loved one is making an informed decision to die. They therefore will call foul and coersion when in fact there is none.

It isn't law yet and there is no guarantee that it will ever be law so you certainly won't be able to pop down to your GP tomorrow.