MPS must address assisted dying issue

On Friday, 22nd October, Baroness Meacher’s Assisted Dying Bill will receive its second reading in the House of Lords.

Whilst strongly supporting the best possible palliative, end-of-life care, the Bill would enable only terminally ill, mentally competent adults whose suffering is beyond palliation, in the final six months of life, to die on their own terms, should they wish.

Even for those who are not put in such a position it would provide crucial peace of mind by the fact of its existence – a change supported by 84% of the British public.

Following the British Medical Association’s recent decision to adopt a neutral position, participatory doctors would be able to prescribe lifeending medication which the individual could then take themselves of their own volition, a safeguard which would be verified by two independent doctors and a High Court judge.

Conscientious objections to taking part would be respected in Baroness Meacher’s Bill, however this will not be to the detriment of respecting the autonomous decisions of patients, which doctors acknowledged in the BMA survey which was published in 2020.

It is important that our MPS can now seriously address this issue and acknowledge the indefensible cruelty that is evidenced by our existing assisted dying laws.

New Zealand, many states in the USA, and an increasing number of states in Australia are enacting safe and compassionate assisted dying laws. Now there is an opportunity for the UK to catch up.

Pauline Carroll, Retired District Nurse, Bath ‘Dignity in Dying’