How ECMO Is Redefining Death
A medical technology can keep people alive when they otherwise would have died. Where will it lead?
Isle of Man debates assisted dying as mum remembers son's 'horrific' death
www.express.co.uk/
Contrary view:
Documentary www.theguardian.com/…
The ultimate choice: an assisted dying special
“This is a personal view documentary authored and narrated by Liz Carr in which she argues why we 'shouldn’t legalise assisted suicide' "
UK
"a recent inquiry by MPs rejected the idea that introducing assisted dying for terminally ill Brits would lead to a slippery slope.
The Commons Health and Social Care Committee said other jurisdictions which focused strictly on terminal illness had not widened eligibility.
And Sarah Wootton, chief executive of Dignity in Dying, said there was plenty of evidence that stricter laws “work safely and compassionately and do not expand”.
She added: “We understand that some people are concerned by a change in the law on assisted dying, but those fears are not realised when you look at the evidence from countries that have already brought in this reform.
“Under these laws it is only dying and not disability that would allow someone to qualify for an assisted death. This is the law that is on the table for the UK.”
The documentary sees Ms Carr sit down with supporters of assisted dying including Lord Falconer, a King’s Counsel who sponsored four bills that attempted to change the law.
However, Ms Carr did not meet with any terminally ill people who would be eligible for an assisted death under the limited laws sought in the UK.
Ms Carr said the programme was not intended to present a balanced look at the assisted dying debate, During a Q&A, the actress explained that she felt their views had been "heard enough"
But Ms Wootton said the views of dying people “should be at the centre of this debate as they experience firsthand the harms of the blanket ban on assisted dying”.
She added: “They can face painful deaths despite good care, or take their own lives, both here in the UK using dangerous methods and abroad at huge financial cost. There is no safety and protection for them under the status quo.
Three quarters of the British public want the law to change and support is high across all demographics, ages, voting intentions and those with or without disabilities.”www.theguardian.com/...
‘My mother’s death left me with an urgent mission’: Rachael Stirling on sharing Diana Rigg’s views on assisted dying
Her mother was furious at having no control over the end of her life. Now the actor is channelling that anger into getting the law changed
www.theguardian.com/…
🕯
Some Opinion From online:
Anonymous (UK )
None of us consented to being born, and life is full of harms and burdens. Therefore, the right to die should be among the most fundamental rights that we have. Unfortunately, the nanny state that we live under won't just allow people to have access to effective and humane suicide methods through other channels such as private companies or charities; and therefore the only way of accessing such methods is by appealing to the NHS for them.
Withholding the means of dying by a combination of making these unavailable privately and refusing to provide them through the health service simply shouldn't be an acceptable option in a supposedly secular country that claims to value individual rights. It isn't a positive privilege that we're not being afforded; but an ongoing violation of our negative liberty rights, as without a risk-free and humane way of dying (for whatever reason one sees fit), the suffering of life is being enforced on us. We therefore have a de facto obligation to live and suffer. We are therefore slaves, to all intents and purposes.
Because the current status quo is not simply a refusal to provide a positive right, but an infringement upon our negative liberty rights; the arguments for 'protecting the vulnerable' don't cut any ice here, because you can't justify actively inflicting suffering on peaceful individuals by the need to make others feel more protected or more valued (or at least, we shouldn't be trying to justify this).
🕯
.
Impact Research, February 2023Less than one out of five voters (17%) oppose the legal option of medical aid in dying. Majority support for medical aid in dying spans the age, gender, racial and religious spectrums; White voters: 69% Black/African American voters: 69%
.
Keir Starmer backs calls for change in law on assisted dying
Pedro Almodóvar: ‘There should be the possibility to have euthanasia all over the world’
The Spanish director’s latest film, The Room Next Door, in which Tilda Swinton plays a journalist with cancer who decides to end her own life, premieres at the Venice film festival
www.theguardian.com/…
.
Too many people have been condemned to die in misery and pain. My assisted dying bill can change that
There is a heartbreaking lack of choice for those facing a painful death. Parliament now has the chance to give them autonomy – and it should
- Kim Leadbeater is Labour MP for Spen Valley
.
Two former health secretaries join calls for new law on assisted dying
Senior Conservative and Labour figures said they would back changes to legislation on the issue in England and Wales
.
Dec 23, 2023 — The actor, who has played characters on both sides of the debate, says the UK needs a conversation about euthanasia and assisted suicide.
