Today, in an oral question relating to the Crown Prosecution Service's (CPS) Policy for Prosecutors in Respect of Cases of Encouraging or Assisting Suicide, several members of the House of Lords, asked Lord Keen about the law prohibiting on assisted dying. Below is a transcript of the questions. Assisted dying is legal in Belgium, Canada, [...]
My Death, My Decision's Campaign Policy Director, Phil Cheatle, responds to the Daily Mail's Dominic Lawson. Today, the Daily Mail published an article by Dominic Lawson, criticising the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) decision to poll their members on assisted dying. His article misses some important points. One example, is Mr Lawson’s insistence [...]
My Death, My Decision's Campaigns and Communication Manager, Keiron McCabe, responds to the latest Guardian long-read "Death on demand: has euthanasia gone too far?" Christopher Bellaigue raises an important question for those of us who advocate for assisted dying reform. In a society which permits euthanasia, what are the acceptable limits to autonomy? [...]
MDMD’s Campaigns and Communication Manager, Keiron McCabe, breaks down the new Clinically-Assisted Hydration and Nutrition Guidance from the British Medical Association Recently, writing in the Daily Mail, Dr Max Pemberton criticised the new British Medical Association’s (BMA) “Clinically-assisted nutrition and hydration (CANH) Guidance”, for allowing “one Facebook post [to] be enough to bring about your [...]
On Tuesday 11th December, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on End of Life Choices, met to hear from Dr Sandy Buchman and Professor Sir John Temple, on the role of doctors within a public discourse on assisted dying. Dr Sandy Buchman, the President-elect of Canada’s Medical Association, who was joined by his Vice-President Dr Jeff [...]
In October 2018 it is reported that the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) broke ranks with the American Medical Association (AMA) by adopting a position of “engaged neutrality” on assisted suicide and euthanasia. At its Congress of Delegates in New Orleans the AAFP, the second largest component society of the AMA with more than [...]
On 29th November 2018 Baroness Ilora Finlay gave a talk at Bristol University titled “As the light fades: Do law and ethics collide?”. Baroness Finlay is a professor of palliative medicine at Cardiff University and a long-standing prominent opponent of assisted dying. Her talk gave a full account of the problems and dangers she sees [...]
Recently the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), in a widely reported statement, called for doctors to start talking about death earlier. It followed from a report, “Talking about Dying”, which found only 4% of patients talk to their doctors about dying or benefit from advanced care planning. “Too many patients are being admitted to hospital [...]
Today, assisted dying campaigner Noel Conway has lost permission to bring a case before the Supreme Court. Diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) four years ago, the retired teacher from Shrewsbury, is dependent upon a ventilator for up to 23 hours a day and has limited movement in his right hand, neck and head. Mr [...]
Assisted Dying in the USA, A Good First Step But Room for Improvement My Death, My Decision’s Coordinator, Phil Cheatle, discusses the recent documentary by Louis Theroux and the implications it raises for the US Oregon Model. The BBC2 documentary by Louis Theroux, “Choosing Death”, which aired on Sunday 18th November 2018 and is available [...]