Latest news with #endoflifecare
The Sun
3 hours ago
- Health
- The Sun
Assisted dying bill PASSES making it one step closer to being legal
TERMINALLY ill adults are set to be given the legal right to end their lives after MPs passed landmark assisted dying laws in a knife-edge final vote. The historic decision paves the way for the biggest shake-up in end-of-life care in decades after weeks of furious lobbying on both sides. 4 4 4 The Bill now moves to the House of Lords for further scrutiny before it can become law. It would means adults in England and Wales with fewer than six months to live will be allowed to apply for a medically assisted death, under strict safeguards. And comes after a campaign of support, including from TV personalities Dame Esther Rantzen, 84, who is battling stage four lung cancer, and terminally ill Sophie Blake, 52. What Happens Next? - With the Commons backing the Bill, it now moves to the House of Lords for detailed debate and scrutiny. - Peers can suggest amendments, which would send the Bill back to the Commons — a process known as 'ping pong'. - But because this is a major conscience issue, the unelected Lords are unlikely to block it outright after it passed the elected House. - Supporters hope it will win final approval and receive Royal Assent by October, officially becoming law. - A four-year implementation period will follow, allowing time to establish the new system, including expert panels and regulatory safeguards. Dame Esther said the terminally ill are 'truly voiceless' and face an "agonising death" - adding: 'This is a crucial debate for the truly voiceless." She went on to say: 'They are the terminally ill adults for whom life has become unbearable and who need assistance, not to shorten their lives but to shorten an agonising death – and their loved ones who under the current law will be accused of committing a crime if they try to assist or even stay alongside to say goodbye." Sophie said: 'This is not about wanting to die, but to be able to live the rest of my life with the peace and comfort of having choice. "I have come to terms with the fact that my life has been shortened, and I do not fear death, but I do fear how I'll die.' 'Correct the profound injustices' Labour's Kim Leadbeater, who brought forward the Bill, called it a 'compassionate and safe choice' and said it would 'correct the profound injustices of the status quo'. The new law means adults in England and Wales with fewer than six months to live will be allowed to apply for a medically assisted death, under strict safeguards. Applications will need the approval of two doctors and a new expert panel made up of a legal figure, psychiatrist and social worker — a key change from the original plan which required sign-off from a High Court judge. Esther Rantzen's daughter reveals heartbreaking health update amid terminal lung cancer battle The final vote passed after fierce debate and a string of last-minute amendments. Ms Leadbeater warned in the chamber that rejecting the Bill would not be a neutral act, but 'a vote for the status quo'. Conservative MP Sir James Cleverly, opposing the move, pushed back on claims it was now or never, telling MPs: 'There will be plenty of opportunities.' MPs accepted an amendment ruling out eligibility for anyone seeking to die solely due to stopping eating or drinking — with Ms Leadbeater stressing it would exclude those with eating disorders. Another amendment requiring ministers to assess the impact on palliative care within a year also passed, with charity Marie Curie warning this alone would not "make the improvements needed" in end-of-life care. Campaigners on both sides gathered outside Parliament, with signs reading 'Let us choose' and 'Don't make doctors killers'. Polling published ahead of the vote showed 73 per cent of Brits still support legalising assisted dying - the same figure as in November's second reading. 4
The Guardian
11 hours ago
- Health
- The Guardian
I hope this is the last piece I ever have to write about assisted dying
MPs, read this horror before you vote today. Here's how some people are slowly dying, right now, in mortal agony untreatable by the best palliative care: 'Some will retch at the stench of their own body rotting. Some will vomit their own faeces. Some will suffocate, slowly, inexorably, over several days.' An average of 17 people a day are dying these bad deaths, according to 2019 figures, as reported by palliative care professionals who see it happen. The Inescapable Truth, a report from Dignity in Dying, revealed what is usually kept hidden from us: the shocking last months for the unluckiest. It could happen to you or me. The assisted dying bill's final Commons vote today is no abstract debate about slippery slopes or what God wants: to do nothing is to inflict torture on many. The vote may be tight: unwhipped private members' bills rely on MPs turning up. At second reading, 330 were in favour, 275 against. After 100 hours of detailed scrutiny and many strict amendments, more than 40 MPs switched both ways. No longer a judge, but an expert panel with a lawyer, social worker and psychiatrist will examine each application. Compromises include a four-year wait after royal assent for the service to be set up. An ITV News vote tracker expects 154 MPs to vote for it, 144 against, 22 undecided and 21 abstainers. Opponents are wheeling out their last-gasp tactics. Catholic bishops this week warned that the future of care homes and hospices will be put into 'grave doubt' by the legislation: 'Institutions whose mission has always been to provide compassionate care in sickness or old age, and to provide such care until the end of life, may have no choice, in the face of these demands, to withdraw from the provision of such care.' Disingenuous is a polite word – under the bill, health and social care workers can refuse involvement in the assisted dying process. God moves in such mysterious ways that some of his followers hide his involvement, without publicly revealing their religious reasons for opposing. The campaign group Our Duty of Care doesn't mention God on its website – nor the fact it shares an office with and is financed by evangelical groups. Membership of Care Not Killing, which runs the Our Duty of Care campaign, is largely religious. Only God ordains the time of our entrances and exits. The mystery is its secretiveness. Presumably that's because his word cuts very little mustard in a country where 53% have no religion. Others of the faith avoid mentioning him, such as Jacob Rees-Mogg on GB News, accusing Labour of 'a cult of death', with Labour MPs 'voting to finish off the elderly' in the week of the 'terrible vote from the House of Commons to allow infanticide of babies in the womb', after the Commons decriminalised women ending their pregnancies. Cult of death? That sounds more applicable to those willing to let others die in painful agony. But not all opponents are religious. One of the oddest is the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych). Although the bill requires patients to be mentally competent to request assisted dying, among other objections the RCPsych reminds MPs that 'terminal illness is a risk factor for suicide'. That's the point – a time when suicide might be quite rational. Offering psychiatry instead of an easeful potion could be greeted with expletives from those in agony. Disability groups have been persuasive, fearing they may be pushed towards shortening their lives, always at risk of being treated as inconvenient. But polling of those with disabilities shows 78% in favour assisted dying, in line with the rest of the population. Scotland, Jersey and the Isle of Man have moved ahead of England on this, and France just joined the many countries in legalising the right to die. Hundreds travel to Dignitas in Switzerland: 52% of Brits say they would consider this grim and lonely death, but few can afford the £15,000. About 650 suicides of the dying are recorded; there may be more of these lonely, unassisted deaths. If I sound intemperate, it's the memory of my mother's prolonged painful death: she thought her good GP would ease her way out but, post-Shipman, he couldn't. No, as some hope, morphine is not a kindly drug wafting you away – it can't remove all pain. Enough people have witnessed bad deaths that public opinion is strongly behind the right to die. Opponents warn people may be pushed into a faster death because they are a perceived burden on their family. To avoid inflicting suffering on those around you seems to me a good reason for not leaving a miserable memory of your final months. Knowing it's an option, even if never used, will comfort many given a terminal diagnosis. What if, opponents keep warning, someone is pressed into it? Everything is a balance of risks: set the absolute certainty of some horrible deaths against the possibility that a dying person may lose a few months of life. Which is worse? As Labour reaches one year in office, this vote should join this week's abortion decriminalisation as another milestone in the long history of personal freedoms that is always the party's legacy. While Harold Wilson never personally backed Roy Jenkins's long list of radical reforms, Keir Starmer has vociferously supported both bills. If it passes, it goes to the Lords, where 26 bishops will do their damnedest to stop it, reminding us why they should be removed along with the hereditaries. I have written often over many years on the right to die when we choose. I hope I never need to again. Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@ or jo@ In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at
Daily Mail
20 hours ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Doctors told my Nana she had a short while left. They were wrong. She defied the odds and lived for almost a decade. That's why I'll be voting AGAINST the assisted dying bill: ROBERT JENRICK
Robert Jenrick has made an emotional appeal against assisted dying, as MPs prepare for a momentous vote on whether to let the terminally ill end their own lives. Writing for the Daily Mail below, Mr Jenrick reveals how he helped look after his grandmother, Dorothy, as a teenage boy – and how she continued to bring joy to the family as she defied a terminal diagnosis for nearly a decade. The Shadow Justice Secretary says the prospect of legalising assisted dying 'fills me with dread', adding: 'My Nana felt like she was a burden. I know how much she hated the indignity she felt at having to ask my Mum or us to help her with basic needs. 'People like her – and there are many such people – may consider an assisted death as another act of kindness to us. How wrong they would be.' He goes on: 'Our society pays little regard to end of life care. We need to do much more as a country to help the elderly, like my Nana, in their final years. 'But my experience has taught me that there can be dignity in death, and that even in someone's twilight years, there is joy to be extracted from life. 'So I'll be voting No. And as I do so, I'll be thinking of my great pal – my Nana, Dorothy.' The appeal comes as MPs prepare for a Commons showdown over the contentious issue tomorrow. MPs will hold a final vote tomorrow afternoon on whether to press ahead with the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which would make it legal to help someone end their own life in certain circumstances for the first time. It will apply only to those with a terminal illness and a diagnosis giving them fewer than six months to live, although critics warn it could be 'the thin end of the wedge'. Labour MP Kim Leadbeater said she was confident the Bill would pass. But campaigners opposed to the legislation last night said the vote was on a 'knife-edge'. The Bill cleared its first Commons hurdle in November with a comfortable majority of 55 votes. But some MPs have suggested they will switch their votes today or abstain. The original legislation has now been amended dozens of times. Ms Leadbeater herself has tabled a further 37, mostly technical amendments to be considered today, while opponents will launch a last-ditch bid to tighten up the Bill, including by barring its use by people suffering from anorexia. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch labelled it a 'bad bill' that will not deliver and urged Conservative MPs to follow suit. 'This has been a free vote. I'm somebody who has been previously supportive of assisted suicide,' Mrs Badenoch said. '[But] this Bill is a bad Bill. It is not going to deliver. It has not been done properly. 'This is not how we should put through legislation like this. I don't believe that the NHS and other services are ready to carry out assisted suicide, so I'll be voting no, and I hope as many Conservative MPs as possible will be supporting me in that.' Former Labour frontbencher Dan Carden became the latest to say he will vote against the Bill after previously abstaining. Mr Carden, leader of the Blue Labour group of MPs, told the Guardian that 'legalising assisted suicide will normalise the choice of death over life, care, respect and love'. He added: 'I genuinely fear the legislation will take us in the wrong direction. The values of family, social bonds, responsibilities, time and community will be diminished, with isolation, atomisation and individualism winning again.' Tory sources said that Rishi Sunak, who backed the Bill at its first stage, is likely to be one of many MPs who decide to miss tomorrow's vote. Downing Street would not say whether Keir Starmer, who backs the principle of assisted dying, will vote. One government insider described the legislation, which has been introduced as a private member's bill, as 'a mess'. 'Even among people who support assisted dying, there are a lot who are not sure this was the best way of going about it,' the source said. 'We would have been better to have let a Royal Commission look at it first.' Supporters of the Bill insist they have put rigorous safeguards in place to prevent vulnerable people being coerced into ending their lives early. Anyone found to have pressured someone to kill themselves could face up to 14 years in prison. But critics warn the protections are too weak – and point to the decision to drop the requirement for all applications to be considered by a High Court judge. The key safeguard was abandoned following warnings it would place too much pressure on court time. Instead, applications will now be considered by a three-person panel featuring a senior legal figure, a psychiatrist and a social worker. A government impact assessment found that within a decade the legislation would see 4,500 people a year end their lives early. It forecast that the premature deaths would save the NHS almost £60million a year in 'unutilised healthcare'. The Government is formally 'neutral' on the issue. Health Secretary Wes Streeting, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner are among senior members of the Cabinet who voted against the legislation in November, while Sir Keir and other senior figures such as Rachel Reeves and Yvette Cooper voted in favour. The Government has said it will implement the Bill if it is eventually passed by Parliament. But ministers forced Ms Leadbeater to accept an implementation period of up to four years because of concerns it will prove difficult in practice. My Nana felt like she was a burden. People like her may consider an assisted death as an act of kindness to us... how wrong they would be By Robert Jenrick It was never the plan for my Nana, Dorothy, to live with us. She'd moved from Liverpool to a sheltered flat near our home outside of Wolverhampton to be close to Mum and Dad. But her terminal emphysema made that impossible at times. It was a dreadful thing, leaving her constantly struggling to breathe, reliant on powerful inhalers and later oxygen canisters. So, after a hospital stay, when I was a teenager, she came to our house to recuperate for 'a few weeks'. She ended up staying for years. Her mind remained razor sharp even to the end, but her body gave up. The condition left her barely able to walk down a corridor or across a room. She was in considerable discomfort and often bedbound. Throughout all that, though, her dignity was astonishing. Immaculately turned out. Neatly dressed. Hair coiffed. Every single day. First diagnosed with emphysema, then cancer, doctors gave her a short while to live. They were wrong. She defied the odds and lived for almost a decade. Throughout, my Mum primarily, but also my Dad, my sister and I were her carers. Fetching prescriptions, changing beds, running her to doctors' appointments. There was nothing by way of help. In fact, the day my grandmother died, my Mum came home to a message from the council saying that her condition was not yet serious enough to warrant their support. After Nana became seriously unwell, my mother was loath to leave her side. Looking back, Mum showed a saintlike devotion. She put her whole life on hold for years, as so many carers across the country do. She received no recompense, no reward. This was a duty of love. A multi-generational household has its ups and downs. Teenagers and octogenarians aren't always natural housemates. She found our noise, robust family debates and occasional parties difficult and wasn't shy about saying so. With only one television, battles over my desire to watch teenage comedies and her desire to watch Emmerdale or Corrie raged for years. But there were many happy moments too. Long discussions about the past, the news, and politics, as we sat completing the Daily Mail crossword every day. She encouraged me to go to university and make the most of the opportunities she missed leaving school at 13. Watching her deteriorate was heartbreaking. It affected us all. There was something particularly tragic about someone so sharp, so witty, so aware of the world, stuck in a failing body. Increasingly, she felt a burden. She prized what remained of her independence and hated making a fuss. None of this came easily to her. In her youth, she'd done remarkable things like serving as a volunteer fire warden during the Blitz around St Paul's Cathedral. She'd known the tough times and faced them all with a quiet stoicism. The days before she died were terrible to watch. By then, each breath had become painful, and talking a struggle. It hurts beyond words to see someone you love in that state. I'll always remember the last time we saw each other. I went to see her in hospital. I held her hand and we spoke a little. I kissed her cheek as I left. She whispered, 'we've been great pals, haven't we?' We had. Tomorrow, I'll cast my vote on the Assisted Dying Bill. The legislation lacks basic safeguards. It would allow patients with anorexia to end their life without telling their families. The representative bodies of Pathologists, Psychiatrists, and Palliative doctors all oppose it. Our courts are bound, under human rights challenges, to expand eligibility yet further. The safeguards our courts were supposed to provide when the Bill was first proposed, and which I warned at the time were utterly impractical to deliver, have been stripped out altogether. Then there is the matter of how hard it is to predict when someone might die. This law is meant to only apply to those with less than six months less to live. But speak to any doctor and they'll tell you just how hard that is to predict. The doctors told my Nana that she had just a short while left. They were wrong, like they are in many cases. She lived for almost a decade until her death at the grand old age of 94. With assisted dying legalised, inevitable mistakes like this would be too terrible to contemplate. But for me, it's the examples around the world where assisted dying is legal that prove it's a bad idea. In Oregon, under 30 per cent of the patients dying by assisted dying do so because they're in physical pain. The overwhelming majority die because they fear 'losing autonomy' or feel a 'burden on family, friends and caregivers.' These numbers are the same just about everywhere data is collected. That fills me with dread. My Nana felt like she was a burden. I know how much she hated the indignity she felt at having to ask my Mum or us to help her with basic needs. People like her, and there are many such people, may consider an assisted death as another act of kindness to us. How wrong they would be. It's easy to make laws that work for 80 per cent of people. It's very hard to make them work for everyone. It's Parliament's role to represent that minority, but the Assisted Dying Bill leaves them exposed. There will be people – we all know them in our lives – who are shy, who have low self-esteem, who have demons within them who will feel societal pressure to end their life early. I know plenty of these people. They are often poor. They are vulnerable. They are lonely. Parliament must be their protector. But this Bill fails to uphold that duty. Thousands of people will lose months, if not years, of their life to avoid causing hassle for their family. Thousands more will be haunted by the thought of whether they should do so too. If it wasn't obvious from the data, we know it instinctively. Our society pays little regard to end of life care. We need to do much more as a country to help the elderly, like my Nana, in their final years. But my experience has taught me that there can be dignity in death, and that even in someone's twilight years, there is joy to be extracted from life. So tomorrow, I'll be voting no. And, as I do so, I'll be thinking of my great pal – my Nana, Dorothy.
South China Morning Post
4 days ago
- Health
- South China Morning Post
Jockey Club launches project to bring end-of-life care to disabled Hongkongers
A HK$290 million (US$36.9 million) support project by the Hong Kong Jockey Club will bring end-of-life care to the city's disabled community, addressing a critical service gap and empowering the group with dignity and autonomy. Building on the success of a 10-year support project targeting the elderly, the new five-year initiative launched on Monday would be expected to serve more than 3,000 physically and intellectually disabled people, those in mental recovery and about 4,000 carers. Under the project, frontline workers from 10 non-governmental organisations underwent training from mid-2024 to deliver support services, ranging from advance care planning to life and death education, primarily in care home settings. During the process of advance care planning, patients would be guided to express their preferences in areas such as personal goals and treatment expectations, and in making advance directives for refusing life-sustaining procedures such as resuscitation and artificial feeding and hydration when they are dying. Other services included honouring the final wishes of clients, facilitating communication with family members and providing bereavement support. Professor Amy Chow Yin-man, project director and head of the Department of Social Work and Social Administration at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), said the end-of-life care model for disabled people was underdeveloped worldwide.
Telegraph
4 days ago
- Health
- Telegraph
Improve end-of-life care before rolling out assisted dying, Government told
The Government could be forced to improve end-of-life care before it can roll out assisted dying. Lawyers representing a leading doctor will take legal action against the Department of Health if it fails to develop a plan to improve Britain's palliative care, The Telegraph can reveal. The House of Commons is set for what looks to be a pivotal, final vote on June 20 on the Assisted dying bill, which would give some terminally ill adults the right to end their lives. But there are serious concerns about whether they would have a real choice, with critics, including Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, citing the lack of provision of end-of-life care. It is one of the issues that could reduce the 55 majority the Bill received in November 2024. Lawyers are also threatening legal action, which could force the Government's hand. In a letter to Mr Streeting, a leading consultant cardiologist requested that the Government urgently reviews and sets out a plan to improve end-of-life care following the death of his father. 'Coerced by the lack of support' Mr Streeting previously said he would vote against the Bill because he did not think palliative care 'in this country is in a condition yet where we are giving people the freedom to choose, without being coerced by the lack of support available '. But with hospices being forced to shut over costs, a review set to inform the future of social care, led by Baroness Casey, not due until 2028, and the NHS focused on cutting waiting lists, changes to palliative care appear some way off. A report by the Marie Curie charity in 2024 found that there was a ' patchy and inconsistent provision of care for people approaching the end of life'. Matthew Reed, the charity's chief executive, said there was a 'postcode lottery in access' and ' no realistic national or local plan ' as he called on the Government to make urgent changes. Dr Tom Hyde, a heart specialist in the South West, told Mr Streeting that his father Stephen's life 'could have been extended' if he had received proper care in the community. Stephen had advanced cancer and mobility issues when he died aged 84. A letter, written by Sinclairslaw on Dr Hyde's behalf, said 'the current systems for palliative and end-of-life care are putting the UK in breach of its duties under the European Convention on Human Rights'. It is understood that lawyers may apply for a judicial review over the Department of Health's lack of action. Dr Hyde alleged that his father had 'been inappropriately discharged into the community where he suffered malnutrition, dehydration and lack of care', which contributed to his death. A government spokesman said the testimony was shocking and that it was determined to fix the 'distressing failures' it had inherited. Stephen had been admitted to hospital three times over four weeks between June and July 2023 following falls and a kidney injury. After the first admission, he was discharged back to his home, where he lived with his wife, despite her also being frail. His dietitian reported that he was eating just 600 calories a day despite weighing 80kg, and Dr Hyde raised concerns that his father was suffering from malnutrition. The final admission came on July 13 2023, where Stephen suffered a non-fatal heart attack while enduring a 12-hour wait on a trolley in A&E. He was sent to a ward at a different hospital that specialised in palliative care, where he remained until his death just over a week later. 'I would like my freedom' On July 20, a consultant asked if he could do anything for him, to which Stephen replied: 'That's very kind, I would like a gin and tonic and my freedom.' Dr Hyde saw his father for the last time two days later, with it apparent his father knew the end was near as he said goodbye. Dr Hyde claimed that the consultant remarked it was good that Stephen had almost passed because it 'looks like we'll have another bed coming up soon'. He argued that his father should have been admitted to a nursing home where he could have received proper around-the-clock care weeks earlier, which would have helped him to live better for longer. Dr Hyde told The Telegraph: 'He experienced an unsafe discharge from hospital to his home when he was doubly incontinent, vomiting and with inadequate plans for hydration and nutrition. 'Despite having capacity, his loss of autonomy as the system took over his treatment and care, and my powerlessness to change the situation, was heartbreaking.' He added: 'There is an urgent need for the Government to address the significant failings in the provision of end-of-life care for the most vulnerable in our society.' Paul Conrathe, a senior consultant solicitor at Sinclairslaw, said Stephen's experience was 'shared by many in the UK'. A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: 'This testimony is shocking and we wish to express sincere condolences to Dr Hyde and his family. 'Neglect, abuse or disrespect in care settings is completely unacceptable, and the distressing failures in Mr Hyde's care, from inappropriate discharges to the lack of community support assessments, highlight serious systemic issues that this government inherited and is determined to address. 'We are taking action to better join up health and community care services so NHS and care staff have instant access to the latest patient information, to speed up and improve their care. 'We are also working to ensure the Care Quality Commission takes robust action where providers fail to treat people with dignity and respect.'
