Should people dying in pain be able to ask for help to end their own lives? – Wales Online

A bill being considered by Lords has reopened the debate over whether people dying in pain should be able to ask for help to end their own lives.

Supporters of the 'assisted dying' bill argue that it is inhumane to force people who have a terminal illness and will die within up to six months to continue to live in pain when they would prefer to end their own lives.

But the potential legalisation, which would allow terminally ill adults to request assistance to end their own life, risks opening the door for euthanasia, according to a prominent critic of a bill being considered by peers.

Baroness Finlay of Llandaff claims even the term 'assisted dying' is a euphemism for assisting suicide and euthanasia, with campaigners behind the bill already calling for far wider legislation.

The private members' bill, put forward by Baroness Meacher, received its first reading in May, with a second hearing due this autumn. It would only apply to over 18s who can satisfy the High Court they have the mental capacity to make the decision to end their lives.

Ilora Finlay, who is a professor of palliative medicine at Cardiff University School of Medicine and was made Baroness Finlay of Llandaff in 2001, has warned of the 'dangers' of the bill, arguing its qualifying criteria remain too vague.

"Many people are unaware of the dangers in going down this road," she said.

"The bill has qualifying criteria that are not safe, cannot be verified with certainty and are far too vague.

"For example, a prognosis of six months is impossible to state with any accuracy at all its guesswork. And the bill paves the way for its own expansion. Why not twelve months prognosis? Or conditions such as anorexia or mental illness? Looking at places where assisted dying is in place, thats what happens the boundaries widen further.

"The bill does not even state how assessments are to be monitored to ensure they are done properly.

"We are already short of 50,000 doctors, as well as a shortfall of nurses, and services are under immense pressure. This bill as written will take time away from looking after patients and implies the only way to die is by being poisoned by lethal drugs.

"And the bill seems to open the door to euthanasia too campaigners are already calling for far wider legislation".

Baroness Meacher who has presented the bill is chairman of Dignity in Dying, a group campaigning for change across the UK.

She said: My private members bill on assisted dying is modest in its scope and yet its potential to transform all our lives and deaths for the better is colossal.

"This option would enable terminally ill, mentally competent people whose suffering is beyond the reach of palliative care to die well and on their own terms, should they choose it. And it would also provide invaluable comfort and control to countless more who may never avail themselves of this option but would be comforted by the simple fact of its existence. It is an insurance policy against intolerable suffering, and that benefits us all.

Meanwhile, the current law thwarts open discussion between dying people, their doctors, friends and family, forcing people to suffer unbearably against their wishes or contemplate sedation, starvation, suicide or Switzerland.

"It is time for Parliament to act and thus improve the ability of all of us to lead happier lives in the knowledge that we will have some control over how we die, as is already available to an increasing number of citizens the world over.

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Baroness Meacher's bill proposes two independent doctors and a High Court judge having to assess each 'assisted dying' request, which she says if granted would enable a terminally ill person to die in a manner, time and place of their choosing.

The legislation is based on a bill tabled by Lord Falconer in 2014, which was supported by peers at second reading. Two opposition amendments were defeated by large margins at committee stage however, and the parliamentary session ended before it could progress further.

The bill is modelled on legislation that has been in place in Oregon, USA for over 23 years, since adopted by 10 other American states, three Australian states and New Zealand.

Baroness Finlay meanwhile is a former president of the Royal Society of Medicine, a professor of palliative medicine at Cardiff University School of Medicine, and a consultant at the Velindre Cancer Centre in Cardiff.

She was made a life peer as Baroness Finlay of Llandaff in 2001, two years before she proposed a bill to ban smoking in public buildings in Wales, which was implemented three years later.

She said: "The current law protects people across society from influences to end their life early data from Oregon shows that people seek a massive overdose of lethal drugs for a range of non-medical reasons, feeling a burden on family friends or carers is a contributory factor in over half of them.

"But the law of our land has a role to protect the vulnerable from harm this Bill does nothing to detect coercion, abuse, or financial pressures. What about suicide prevention? It cuts a hole in that. Suicide data suggests that the overall suicide rate goes up more when society views death as the way to deal with problems, rather than improve choices in care and give greater control to patients over their care.

"The evidence from other European countries shows that when such legislation passes, palliative and hospice services do not develop at the same rate as in non-assisted suicide/euthanasia states.

"If people who are distressed are not looked after early, they become demoralised. If you deal with problems early, they are more easily managed. Take pain - if pain is not managed, patients become more and more demoralised. It is the opposite of palliative care.

"Laws arent just regulations, they send strong social messages. An 'assisted dying' law, despite its comforting but misleading title, sends the message that, if you are seriously ill, taking your own life is something to consider. For the strong-willed and independent person, that may seem acceptable. But most terminally ill people aren't like that. They are fearful, often needlessly, of what the future may bring, worried about the impact of their illness on those around them and vulnerable to pressures, whether from within themselves or from others, to 'do the decent thing'. This is not a road we should go down.

She added: "As a society we rightly treat people who attempt to take their own lives with understanding and compassion. But we are also clear as a society that suicide is not something to be assisted.

"The current law protects people from influences to end their lives. We have 'suicide watches' where people are considered to be at risk of doing so and doctors have a duty of care to protect patients who show signs of suicidal intent.

"Yet here we have a bill proposing they should hand lethal drugs so certain categories of people. Is that the kind of society we really want?"

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Should people dying in pain be able to ask for help to end their own lives? - Wales Online