Assisted dying bill would harm far too many of the patients I care for

Dr Ray Towey and campaigners Image ICN/JS

Dr Lucy Thomas writes in Open Democracy:

On Friday, MPs look set to vote for the final time on the assisted dying bill, which would allow terminally ill patients in England and Wales to be assisted to end their lives provided their life expectancy is thought to be six months or less and certain other conditions are met

Many MPs have already told of being moved to support the bill after hearing heartbreaking stories that inspire a desire for a simple, compassionate solution to reduce pain and suffering at the end of life.

Yet as a palliative care doctor, I see a far more complex and troubling reality. My clinical experience - supported by evidence from countries where assisted dying is legal - is that the desire to hasten death is rarely driven by uncontrollable pain. More often, it arises when people feel stripped of autonomy and dignity or are made to feel that they are a burden.

Tragically, such feelings are common among those struggling to access help in our overstretched NHS - and are usually eased by support that not only relieves symptoms but also affirms their fundamental human need to feel valued.

MPs who support the principle of legalising assisted dying must, therefore, confront some of the most difficult questions of their career: What conditions must be in place for a decision to end life to be truly free? How can we offer the option of death without creating pressure to choose it? And how can we make such an offer while still affirming each person's value and humanity?

These questions cannot and should not be answered lightly. Each demands that any legislation be bound to a clear, enforceable commitment to fully funded end-of-life care for all, with genuine safeguards in place to prevent unnecessary deaths.

This bill fails to address any of this. As a private member's bill, it reduces a profoundly complex issue to a narrow, campaign-led agenda. Enormous influence rests with the single Labour backbencher who tabled the bill, Kim Leadbeater, and a campaign lobby whose moral certitude dismisses sceptics as "scaremongers" and labels opposition "cruelty". Nuance is reduced to slogans.

To read on see: www.opendemocracy.net/en/mps-should-reject-assisted-dying-bill-palliative-care-doctor-vote-lack-safeguards/

A Vigil will take place outside Parliament on Friday, 20 June, from 8.30am onwards, in Old Palace Yard, as MPs gather for their final vote on Kim Leadbeater MP's Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.