The Office of National Statistics has recently published data on cause of death in 2017. For the third year running Dementia and Alzheimer’s is the leading cause of death, and the trend is increasing. We have been monitoring this significant trend since it was first reported in 2016. See our previous reports on the 2016 [...]
MDMD are delighted to learn that the Scottish parliament has removed any time limit from its definition of "terminally ill" in their Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018. The story was reported by the BBC and the Guardian. The Guardian article states "There were a number of significant last-minute amendments to the legislation, including the removal [...]
Breakfast TV News presenter Eamonn Holmes has been widely quoted in the media for openly saying that he would prefer a medically assisted death if he developed dementia. A Sun on Sunday article strongly supports him. A Daily Mail article also covered the story, its comments show strong support for Eamonn's view. Describing his fear [...]
The BBC Ideas website has recently added a short video titled 'Should we be able to choose our own death?'. Although MDMD had no part in its making, it demonstrates one really good way of achieving our goal. It is a personal opinion piece by philosopher Nigel Warburton. He starts by asking us to imagine [...]
A recent article in the Washington Post describes moves in Oregon, USA to try to extend their Death with Dignity Act to include help for those suffering from degenerative diseases such as Motor Neurone Disease, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Related discussions are taking place in other US states and in Canada. For example, a recent paper [...]
The Observer recently published a story about Wendy Mitchell, an Alzheimer's sufferer whose memoir, 'Somebody I Used to Know', has recently been published. The article gives in interesting insight into how Wendy copes with the devastating diagnosis of dementia at the age of 58. Wendy is described as an energetic single mother of two adult [...]
In October 2016 the Office of National Statistics reported that in 2015 dementia and Alzheimer's were now the leading cause of death in England and Wales. We discussed this in a latest news article then. A year later they have now published data for 2016, which shows this trend increasing. Dementia and Alzheimer's accounted for [...]
An interesting scientific study of attitudes in UK and USA towards end of life care and assisted dying in the face of worsening dementia, was published in April 2017 in the peer reviewed on-line journal Plos One: Clarke G, Fistein E, Holland A, Barclay M, Theimann P, Barclay S (2017) Preferences for care towards the [...]
The Mail on Sunday published a story about MDMD supporter Alex Pandolfo who suffers from Alzheimer's and is planning to end his life at Lifecircle in Switzerland. It is a significant article as Alex is explaining his reasons before he ends his life. He mentions one of his difficulties as being the timing of when [...]
Dementia is now the leading cause of death in England and Wales. How can we ensure we don't suffer from it for longer than we wish? Medically Assisted Suicide is one option chosen by a few. In the UK those choosing this option need to arrange appropriate help in Switzerland, as it is not legal [...]