15.05.13
Raising the stakes
A Private Members’ Bill on assisted dying is due to be tabled today, following previous rejections in the House of Commons.
The more this topic is spoken about, in public and in politics, the closer the UK seems to come to accepting that choice at the end of life should be protected by legislation, not penalised by it.
And many who will oppose the Bill do so not on the grounds of complete objection to its principles. It is difficult to argue with a mentally capable patient’s right to choose to end their ceaseless suffering.
But mistakes are made, and slippery slopes are alluded to. The new report from the College of Emergency Medicine demonstrates how ‘never’ events do happen in the NHS, far more frequently than anyone would like to admit.
Legalising assisted dying raises the stakes of such errors, and this is the major block that must be addressed before the UK can consider moving towards a more compassionate approach to death.
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