How many incorrect deaths justify the right to access lethal drugs?

Last night a panel of experts, chaired by Baroness Hollins, discussed the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill. The panel issued a call for people to contact their MP as a matter of urgency asking how many incorrect deaths justified the right to access lethal drugs.

The expert panel consisted of:

Dr Matthew Doré, Consultant Palliative Care Physician
Professor Peter Hindmarsh, Chair of the Catholic Union Charitable Trust
Baroness Hollins, President of the Catholic Union
Dr Philip Howard, former Gastroenterologist & Senior Lecturer in Medicine
Professor Julian Hughes, Former Consultant Old Age Psychiatrist.

Baroness Hollins, President of the Catholic Union says: "Even if you have communicated with your MP, I would encourage everyone to initiate new communication and ask them to commit to well resourced, well trained and coordinated end of life care in your constituency, that is the crux of what we need as a society rather than a deeply flawed and dangerous Private Members' Bill".

The panel focused on the subtleties of coercion and how the passage of the Bill would create a coercive force which means that people when they are at their most vulnerable may be most at risk. They also discussed the need to offer palliative care when people are suffering rather than killing the sufferer, and explored the nuances of capacitous decision making.

The Catholic Union is encouraging people of faith or no faith to contact their MP as a matter of urgency raising the following issues:

- What can be done to ensure well-resourced and co-ordinated end of life care at home or close to home
- How concerns about coercion and undue influence as well as domestic abuse and violence are to be tackled
- What thought has been given to the unintended consequences of introducing lethal drugs into society
- How many incorrect deaths are acceptable? A Private Members' Bill is not the right vehicle to overturn each person's fundamental right to life.

A recording of the webinar can be found here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2Imimdsaoc