What does dying well look like?
Access to excellent End of Life Care
We lead the world in palliative ‘end of life’ care. The UK has been ranked in first place in two recent international surveys. The modern hospice movement was founded here and palliative care has been recognised as a specialist branch of medicine here for over 30 years.
Good palliative care attends to the needs of the patient as a whole, whether those needs are physical, psychological, emotional, spiritual or social. Through effective pain management, and good communication with the patient, symptoms can be well controlled.
However, much palliative care is provided by voluntary sector hospices that rely on donations to fund their essential services. Improved resourcing of hospice and palliative care would ensure its wider availability across the country.
Rather than a ‘right’ to professional assistance in committing suicide, people need a right to excellent palliative care.
See posts below for further reading on palliative care.
Related Posts
Study shows negative impact of MAID on palliative care in Canada
A study conducted by a group of physicians in Canada reveals the detrimental impact that the legalisation of assisted suicide has on palliative care. In their 2020 qualitative study, Matthews and Colleagues interviewed palliative care physicians and nurses who...
The myth of autonomy and assisted suicide
In cases of assisted suicide, do patients really have rational autonomy? In their recent article in The Psychiatric Times, Psychiatrists Dr. Ronald Pies and Dr. Cynthia Geppert challenge the commonly-held belief that patients who request assisted suicide are acting...
Palliative medicine consultant says Meacher bill provides no reliable safeguards against abuse
Dr. Carol Davis, a palliative care consultant and senior lecturer at the University of Southampton, writes of the dangerous implications of legalising assisted suicide in Unheard. Dr. Davis reveals that the legalisation of assisted suicide has been detrimental to...
Doctors warn that assisted suicide bill threatens end of life care
This week, several palliative medicine doctors and academics have written to The Times of their concern regarding the Meacher Bill and its aim to legalise assisted suicide. Signatories include Dr Carol Davis, a consultant in palliative medicine at University Hospital...
Press Release: Outcome of the Second Reading of the Assisted Dying Bill
The Assisted Dying Bill proceeded from its Second Reading in the House of Lords today - in spite of over 60 Peers speaking to oppose the Bill - as is convention. It is the accepted custom of the House of Lords for Bills to move to Committee Stage without a division....
Canadian Physician says ‘Assisted Dying Destroys Hope’
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Nearly 1700 doctors take a stand against assisted suicide
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Journalist reports Assisted Suicide is the opposite of death with dignity
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Oxford ethicist says, “Don’t let the assisted-suicide lobby hijack ‘dignity’”
James Mumford, visiting fellow at the McDonald Centre at Oxford University, argues that the assisted suicide debate is a contest over the meaning of this word: 'dignity'. This term is used again and again within assisted suicide organisations and legislation...
Assisted suicide is neither painless nor dignified
Dr Joel Zivot, an associate professor of anaesthesiology and surgery at the Emory School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia, uses his medical expertise to discuss the reality of assisted suicide in his recent article in The Spectator. While proponents of assisted suicide...
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Writing in The Times, Chair of the APPG for Dying Well, Danny Kruger MP, says assisted suicide is not the solution to suffering at the end of life. While assisted suicide is portrayed by its advocates as a peaceful, painless way to die, in jurisdictions were assisted...
Responding to the BMA vote on Assisted Suicide
Responding to the BMA vote on assisted suicide, Danny Kruger MP, chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Dying Well, said: “That even the most activist doctors group could not muster a majority for neutrality on assisted suicide shows just how unpopular it...
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In the latest podcast released by Living and Dying Well Baroness Ilora Finlay, a palliative medicine professor, discusses end of life care, doctor-patient trust and the right to die in our latest podcast. Watch or listen here:...
Must Read: With the End in Mind
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Build back better with more palliative care, not assisted suicide
Author: Nola Leach That the Government needs to conduct an urgent review of palliative care in England and Wales was brought home forcefully to me by a moving article in the Times in late October. The author, a lady suffering from terminal cancer, explained that she...
Assisted Suicide – is this really a role for doctors?
Sourced from: Living and Dying Well This autumn at its annual conference the British Medical Association will consider whether it should maintain its opposition to what is being called ‘assisted dying’, which in law is assisted suicide The debate will take...
Fifty palliative care doctors speak out against introducing assisted suicide
Sourced from: Right to Life UK Over fifty doctors working in palliative medicine and care for dying patients have signed a letter to The Times in opposition to any proposed changes in the assisted suicide law. In the face of continual attempts to legalise...
Many in the dark on end of life
Author: Care Not Killing Research indicates 'a lack of understanding that death can be "gentle, peaceful and pain-free"' Doctors.net.uk reported recently: 'Public ignorance about dying increases fears about the pain and indignity associated with the event, senior...
