Legalising assisted death may pressurise the ill and disabled into believing it may be the correct route to take to relieve their families and loved ones of the burden of looking after them.
The assisted dying bill would allow adults of sound mind, with six months to live, the right to end their life at a time of their choosing.
Lord Tebbit warned that “the bill would create financial incentives to end the lives of the frail, the handicapped the ill and the elderly and be a breeding ground for vultures, both individual and corporate.”
“the bill would put great pressure on the elderly, the sick and the disabled to do the decent thing and cease to be a burden on others. Those who care for such people are all too familiar with the moments of black despair that prompt those words, ‘I would be better off dead, so that you could get on with your life’.”
Baroness Finlay opposing the bill stated “lets not forget that Dr Shipman’s 176 cremations were all countersigned by a second doctor”
Everyone fears the onset of many illnesses and diseases, but one of the most feared is dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.
To many people, dementia can be seen as one of the most undignified disease processes and one of the most debilitating illnesses to be experienced, both by the person with dementia and also the relatives and family members who care for the person.
Dementia can impact so forcibly on every aspect of a person’s life but is he or she any less a person? They are the person they have always been, but with a condition which is possibly going to worsen, and which may change their lives.
It is my belief that health care professionals should consistently try to improve the quality of life of any person with any illness or condition.
The Liverpool Care Pathway
The Liverpool Care Pathway has to an extent been a disaster, and almost a death sentence for patients. Once started on this pathway the individual may have been be denied fluids and food.
In the past nurses and carers have cared for patients at the end of their life in a dignified and professional manner, and decisions about a person’s care and his or her treatment were made on a day to day basis depending on the patient and taking the views of the family into account.
Recently government ministers promised that loved ones must be ‘involved in decisions’ in NHS hospitals to ensure the abuses and ‘tick-box’ culture created by the discredited Liverpool Care Pathway never happen again.
And hospital managers or doctors who try to cover up the circumstances of a patient’s death will be subject to criminal prosecutions and heavy fines in court.
The radical rights for families are part of a new protection package for the dying, that ministers say will mean an end to the ‘protocols and processes’ that led to the Liverpool Care Pathway scandal.
There is today a real danger of health professionals trying to pigeon hole the care of people, believing that to do so may be in the best interests of a patient when it is not.
Do Not Attempt Resuscitation(DNAR)
Do not attempt resuscitation faces similar issues, which need to be addressed and managed properly with person centred care and the interests and well being of the patient being the foremost consideration.
I have had the privilege to care for many very intelligent elderly people with dementia.
I have been part of a team responsible for improving their quality of life.
People can live well with many diseases, but there is a clear danger that some people’s perception of certain illnesses such as dementia may lead that person to presume that all people with this disease might wish to die.
Legalising assisted death could very possibly lead to legalised euthanasia and the death of many with a variety of diseases and illnesses.
Mr Hunt has not commented publicly on his position, but in a letter to a constituent seen by the Mail, the Health Secretary wrote: ‘I am concerned it devalues the life of people with permanent disabilities and could inadvertently put pressure on people who worry they are a ‘burden’ to their families (including incidentally 48 per cent of people with dementia).
Winterbourne said “I do not want our trusted NHS to turn from being the National Health Service into the National Death Service”.
Something to consider carefully?
