To my mind, good palliative care should be caring to the end. There are times when the caring thing to do is to stop trying to prolong life that is painful and without quality, and to intervene to end it where the patient chooses to.
No medical staff would be forced to participate if there was a change in the law, just as no patient would be forced to choose this option.
While I appreciate that doctors will have a range of views on this topic, I feel it is only right that those who are fervently campaigning against it are open about their reasons.
It has also been revealed this week – by research from Dignity in Dying – that a network of anti-choice activists were involved in legally challenging the RCP’s assisted dying survey, attempting to stop the results from being published.
Many of these activists have a long history of campaigning for pro-life causes, as well as connections to American pro-life lobbyists.
Fortunately, the case was rejected by the high court yesterday, but it is concerning that a small but vocal group, with what I’d describe as rather extreme views, is attempting to influence this important debate.
Although I am gradually becoming accustomed to the idea of dying, I do not want my nearest and dearest to have to watch me suffer.
My family understands my views and respects them; my husband insists that he would feel the same.
My daughters are both healthcare professionals and understand my wishes, being able – as I am – to see things from both a personal and a professional point of view.
An overwhelming majority of the public – who will all be patients at one time or another – want to see a change in the law that gives terminally ill people like me a real say over how and when we die.
I hope that more doctors and nurses will listen to their patients on this issue.
And above all, I hope that by the time I am ready to go, I can do it on my own terms.
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