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.

By whom? shamed, mocked and belittled.
Really?
I think you're giving yourself a higher place of importance in others minds than you have.
Why do you think people would card enough to mock?

I support it. If you have ever watched a loved one die a slow, horrible, undignified death of cancer, I think you would too. I am personally pleased for myself and my family that I will have the choice for myself (assuming I have capacity) and don't have to put them through the hideousness of what is often not a 'gentle decline' as a PP called it.

People who have witnessed just that do not support this bill.
A painful death is not guaranteed
Assisted dying leading to a painless death is also not guaranteed.

I do wonder how many of those who are against it, have witnessed someone close to them suffer terrible pain, because medics are no longer allowed to give them sufficient morphine to keep them comfortable.

I’m majorly pissed off with our MP at the moment, for voting against. Not that I was ever very keen on her anyway.
On the BBC website BTW you can enter your postcode to see how your MP voted.

I’m afraid that, if the bill becomes law, the guiderails currently proposed will be relaxed and/or amended. A lot of PPs support the bill because a loved one has/had dementia. The current bill doesn’t cover them right now because they wouldn’t be considered mentally fit to agree. So, there’s almost immediately a pretty drastic potential amendment that would have support right there. I find that a very slippery slope to be stood at the top of.

Not all people with dementia are unhappy. I'm thinking of my late MIL , although difficult for those around her in latter years - she did still enjoy music/ dancing and seeing and chatting to different people for many years.

I hope they are. For me it doesn't go far enough and I look forward to amendments.

I support assisted dying in principle but I am unconvinced on this bill. I definitely see it being watered down and it used as an excuse not to improve palliative care

There are plenty of people who have witnessed a loved one go through a long and painful death that oppose this bill. I think it’s possible to put personal tragedy to one side and think about the potential implications of assisted dying becoming state sanctioned. Especially when considering all the rhetoric around ‘economically inactive’ people recently (which includes retirees btw).

In theory, I whole-heartedly support the idea of assisted dying. In reality I am extremely concerned about the parameters being increasingly widened to include things like psychological suffering, pressure being felt by those who don't want an AD, and the further decline of already stretched palliative care services.

My mother hated every day of the six years she spent in residential care and bitterly missed her home and former life. Despite her dementia she knew who I was until almost the end and she kept asking to go home. I'm pretty sure she'd have rather been allowed to die given the choice.

That's a really good point... the issue is about balancing what might be best on an individual basis versus the implications for society at large. There's no easy solution

No need to worry, it won’t be mandatory assisted dying so you will never need to choose it for yourself if you don’t want to.

If I’m ever diagnosed with dementia, I’ll be off on a plane to Zurich in no time. I wouldn’t want my family to have to look after ‘me’ 24hrs a day at the expense of their own lives. I feel sad for people that can’t afford that choice. Although theoretically maybe they could put it all on credit card, they wouldn’t have to pay it back after all.

If someone doesn't feel that they have sufficient quality of life any more I think they should be allowed to choose to die, even without a terminal diagnosis.

Unfortunately I think if you've received a diagnosis you won't be able to do that.

Even if that quality of life is insufficient because of failings in society?
Should the homeless be offered AD? Those who are struggling financially? Those with autism?

Many many people would say that their quality of life is not sufficient, surely the answer is help and support, not death.

My father in law has motor neurone disease. Anyone who has watched someone they love go through such a cruel and horrific thing, and had to see the effect it has on both themselves and their loved ones understands how important this bill is.

We don’t let animals suffer like this.

@ilovesooty I'm very sorry your mum suffered like that - horrible for her and those around her. I think every scenario is so varied; and lots of grey shades rather than a black and white case.

I was making the point that not everyone with dementia would want their life to end.

I feel similarly about the assisted dying bill as I do about a woman’s right to termination.

Invoking either scenario is never going to be under happy circumstances but in many circumstances, it is the least worst option and is down to the individual seeking it to decide for themselves.

We allow a woman a right to a termination, even though there will be some cases where she is forced in to it by a partner or family member. Those circumstances are terrible of course but it is not a good enough reason to outlaw terminations completely and if we tried, there would be a huge uproar.

I feel this way too, unfortunately it’s not cheap - last time I checked it was somewhere around £15k I think.
It will be cheaper to jump off a cliff but unfortunately that means dragging others into it and causing distress🥺

A lot of people go through very low periods where they feel like life isn’t worth living. Treatment usually involves convincing them otherwise and they go on to live happy lives. I’m worried that assisted dying would be considered an appropriate treatment pathway (which has happened in Canada and NL) and people will have fewer treatment options as a result. Individual choice is heavily influenced by structural forces.

I'm not talking about people being offered it. I don't think it should be suggested to people. I'm talking about people choosing it.

I think you can if mental capacity is demonstrated. Obviously it’d have to be very early in the diagnosis. Making it horribly hard but still., preferable to the unavoidable alternative.

https://www.mydeath-mydecision.org.uk/2017/01/22/dementia-sufferers-ending-lives-switzerland/

There was an amendment that would mean that AD couldn't be offered, only requested. The amendment was rejected.
This bill absolutely allows medical professionals to suggest AD.