Healthcare Professionals For Assisted Dying Welcomes Commission On Assisted Dying's Findings

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Main Category: Palliative Care / Hospice Care
Article Date: 11 Jan 2012 - 9:00 PST

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The conclusion of a report by the Commission on Assisted Dying that there is a strong case for providing the choice of assisted dying for terminally ill people' has been welcomed by Healthcare Professionals for Assisted Dying (HPAD), as well as the way in which the conclusion was reached. The paper is the result of extensive fact-gathering from national and international experience and knowledge, as well as meticulous debates over the law and human rights.

In addition to acknowledging that legalizing assisted dying should only be part of a move to make sure that all individuals have access to high quality end of life care and that discussion regarding death and dying should be more open, experts from the Commission have focused on the safety measures that should be in place if assisted dying becomes legal. One principle that motivated the experts' conclusion is the right for people to make their own decisions regarding end of life care.

Professor Ray Tallis, Chair of HPAD, explained:

"The Commission's conclusion should prompt the British Medical Association (who refused to give evidence), and the Royal Colleges of Physicians, of Surgeons and of General Practitioners, to re-consider their opposition to assisted dying.

It is the view of Health Professionals for Assisted Dying (HPAD) that this opposition is not only cruel, ignoring the plight of many terminally ill patients whose symptoms cannot be controlled, but also illegitimate. Assisted dying should be a matter for society as a whole, and not the medical profession, to decide. What is more, these organizations ride rough shod over the views of the 30%-40% of doctors and 80% of the general public who are in favor of assisted dying.

The cruelty of the present situation is illustrated by the death of Dr Ann McPherson CBE, the founder of HPAD. She died at home, surrounded by her loving and supportive family, receiving the best possible medical and nursing care. And yet, as her husband Klim said 'I watched my wife of 43 years suffering as she was forced to live in unbearable discomfort'. Ten days before her death, she had expressed a wish to die. But she was denied that wish.

She had said. 'I'm feeling pretty bloody awful. I can't understand why I have to carry on living like this why I just can't die. It is nice to see people but if I have the choice there is no question I would prefer to be dead, because I feel so ill. I feel really furious about this and I think it's cruel. In my practice, I saw people who felt like this and I felt that I had let them down.'

I very much hope that the Commission's thorough, scrupulous report will give politicians the courage to respond to the wishes of the vast majority of citizens by setting in motion the process that will lead to legalizing assisted dying."

In collaboration with Dignity in Dying by Dr. Ann McPherson CBE, a visionary general practitioner with an international reputation, and Professor Joe Collier, HPAD was set up in 2010. Dr. McPherson led HPAD when she was terminally ill from pancreatic cancer and wanted to see laws change regarding assisted dying. Dr. McPherson passed away earlier this year.

HPAD is a team made up from individuals in different healthcare professions who believe patients should not be made to suffer against their wishes at the end of life. "Alongside access to good quality end-of-life care and the right to refuse medical treatment, we believe that terminally ill, mentally competent adults should have the choice of an assisted death, subject to legal safeguards."

At present, patients seek death via starvation or dehydration, are left to unbearable suffering, botched suicides or use foreign facilities, such as Dignitas. The Commission believed that it is wrong that some terminally ill patients have no other choice but to travel overseas to die. All suitable options should be openly discussed by healthcare professionals with their patients at the end of life.

This would help to protect potentially vulnerable individuals from abuse. "We believe that the law must change and that our Professional bodies should remain neutral. Evidence and fact must guide end-of-life decision making, not unsubstantiated fears."

HPAD has over 500 members. It is led by a Steering Committee whose membership is as listed below:

• Professor Ray Tallis FRCP FMedSci (Chair)
• Ms Karen Sanders MA (London) RNT RGN (Deputy Chair)
• Sir Iain Chalmers MB BS
• Ms Harriet Copperman OBE SRN
• Sir Terence English KBE FRCS
• Professor Sir David Goldberg KBE FKC FMedSci FRCP
• Professor Isky Gordon FRCR FRCP
• Professor Philip Graham FRCP FRCPsych
• Dr Evan Harris
• Dr Elisabeth MacDonald FRCR MA
• Dr Peter Townsend
• Dr Graham Winyard CBE FRCP FFPH
• Dr Sarah Wookey

Written by Grace Rattue
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

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