Letters / Get palliative care sorted
The search for evidence at committee stage of the Assisted Dying Bill is supposed to be about just that, the search for evidence on both sides of the discussion.
The committee has come under criticism for only inviting those on the assisted dying side of the argument to give evidence. The Royal College of Psychiatrists was not invited to give evidence, voted down 14 to 8, but such was the public outcry that that decision had to be reversed. Originally, Disability Rights UK was not to be invited, but was then squeezed in alongside five other witnesses.
An amendment for anorexia, a treatable illness, not to be a reason for assisted dying was voted down.
An amendment that would have required a patient to be consulted about palliative care options before undergoing assisted suicide has been voted down.
Palliative care provides care and support to prevent and relieve suffering for people with life-limiting and life-threatening illness[i]. The current system of palliative care is under funded, and is very much a post code lottery.
A good, properly funded, universal palliative care system would undercut the need for assisted dying which is possibly why the MPs voted the amendment down. Politicians should get palliative care sorted.
The power of a loaded committee means this is a rushed, reckless and dangerous acquisition of information only to back up the the aim of the bill, nothing else is to be tolerated.
Brian Nugent
Hamnavoe
Burra
[i] https://apmonline.org/
