To be very anxious about the assisted dying bill?

[bipbopdo]

I’m surprised by how anxious I am about it. I don’t agree with it at all and I’m not sure there will ever be enough safeguards to justify making it legal. As it currently stands, it’s theoretically possible for someone with anorexia to qualify.

It took less than ten years for Canada to expand eligibility well beyond the original criteria. Assisted dying now accounts for one in twenty deaths there. I’m scared that could happen here.

This wasn't in the election manifesto was 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.

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

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.

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.)

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?

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??)

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?

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.

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

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.

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

I fully support assisted dying and if it’s not for you then just be prepared for yourself or a loved one to have a long, painful drawn out death.

There’s no need to be anxious about it. It’s a choice. You don’t have to have an assisted death if you don’t want one. Those that do should be allowed to end their life in the way they choose. If you read what the proposed law includes you’ll see that it’s full of stops and checks before any help is given to die. I hope the Lords vote for it to become law.

@Comedycook

Ok. 17% of all deaths in the Netherlands in 2024 were by euthanasia. Out of 172,000 deaths, 9958 were by euthanasia.

Therefore 9958 people made a personal choice not to suffer a horrific prolonged death. They chose a more peaceful death, where they could say goodbye to their families before eg. they were in terrible pain, puking shit and getting their nappies changed by their spouse.

I fully support assisted dying and if it’s not for you then just be prepared for yourself or a loved one to have a long, painful drawn out death

This is exactly the attitude that makes me fear it. Look how you're trying to shame and belittle those with concerns. If you want the option of assisted dying then ok, that's your choice, but you're trying to frame those who don't want it as being wrong in some way...rather than it being their choice. We are already creeping to be a society whereby assisted dying is the only socially acceptable choice.

Shame on you

If you want the option of assisted dying then ok, that's your choice

That isn’t what you’re saying. You’re trying to deny everyone that choice. You can only choose that option if it’s legally available.

Absolutely this, @Comedycook re your concern of it will be widened to include unbearable suffering
You'd be happy for you or loved one to experience unbearable suffering at the end of their life?

I've always believed a good death is an important as a good life.

Our society has a huge fear about dying and death, so many refuse to even discuss it. Yet it is the one thing we know will happen to us all. Maybe that's why we feel so scared about it?

It's a choice, an option, and it won't be available to all. There has been a huge amount of unkind fear mongering about it which is very unhelpful.

I'm really pleased and relieved the Bill has passed.

But if it becomes legal and it looks like it will, it should be your choice shouldn't it? But we already have people trying to shame those who don't want to make that choice. That's just one reason why I don't think it should be law... because it's not really choice is it when it becomes the only socially acceptable decision

I think anxiety is a very sensible reaction to this bill.
Plenty of left wing people don't support it, plenty of medical professionals don't support it, almost every disability organisation doesn't support it, the majority of doctors don't support it, I have heard first hand from a number of people who have witnessed loved ones dying in horrific ways, who also do not support it.
It is a bad bill.

Plenty of people dont.

The only people being “shamed” are those who want to deny the choice to those of us who want it.

I think it is reasonable to have many questions about it and to be somewhat cautious.
I think I support it, but am not totally dismissive of the counterarguments. I think it could lead to much less funding into palliative care and much less research into managing certain degenerative diseases.

I say this as someone who has just watched my father die after struggling for years with PSP - there is no cure for this and it wouldn't fit assisted dying. I assume neither would dementia/Parkinson's etc, so I would worry that there would be less time and money put into those illnesses. That isn't a reason to be against assisted dying, but I think it should be addressed.

You don't find this comment problematic?

I fully support assisted dying and if it’s not for you then just be prepared for yourself or a loved one to have a long, painful drawn out death

Who's 'shaming'? The only actual use of shame is from you?
Re your shame on you comment..