The BBCTerminally ill people are one step closer to being able to make choices after they die. MPs voted in favor of the proposed change in the law..
The right to assisted dying will be granted to people with a life expectancy of six months or less provided their request is approved by two doctors and a judge.
It has been one of the most important and sensitive topics voted on by MPs in recent decades. Although he still needs to clear more rounds of voting. Before it can be implemented.
BBC News two weeks ago Interviewed two seriously ill people. about his feelings on the assisted dying bill and we spoke to him again after the vote on Friday afternoon.
“I’m over the moon, I’m so happy,” says Elise Burns, whose cancer means she’s in constant pain.
“This bill will save many needlessly painful and horrific deaths – as well as the families and loved ones who have to watch them go through it.”
She was watching the debate on assisted dying from the public gallery in the House of Commons having joined the campaign for assisted dying a few months ago.
Elise, 50, is critically ill after breast cancer spread to other parts of her body, including her bones – her femur had to be replaced with a metal rod after the cancer cells rotted away.
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“I’m completely and utterly shocked. I was obviously hoping for the best but preparing for the worst,” added Ellis, who believed MPs would be watching the debate in person. Later can decide against the bill.
Nick Ward, who has motor neurone disease and opposes changes to the assisted dying law, told us: “Obviously I’m a little disappointed.”
He watched the debate and the vote at home.
“But, at the same time, the point was made many times [during the debate] that palliative care has improved little since the last vote nine years ago.”
Also known as end of life care, this service is for people who are in their last months and years of life.
This can be received at home or in a care home, hospital or hospital – depending on the patient’s needs and preferences.
Opponents of the assisted dying bill think so. This service needs to be better funded. If terminally ill people want to make a real choice between dying naturally or choosing to die first.
“There hasn’t been much discussion in the years before and maybe [assisted dying] Now that the bill has been implemented, it will be time for a comprehensive review,” says Naik.
The 53-year-old has been told for the past five years that he is terminally ill and knows he could die from choking on food or his own saliva.
Another concern he has about passing the bill is that terminally ill people, who are faced with the prospect of dying soon, will choose to end their lives unnecessarily early. They consider great reasons.
“It’s the good people, the people who are trying to be good, who are decent and trying to do the right thing – that’s what I worry about and think about. [this law] can be problematic for,” he tells us.
“It will be the grandmother in the care home who doesn’t want to spend all the money she gets in her savings account because she wants her grandchildren to have it,” he says. “It will be people like him who want to end their lives.”
He adds: “This is despite the fact that the last time her grandchildren get to spend with her will be worth more than an extra £10,000 or £20,000.
“People will make one. [life or death] A judgment based on internal judgments that aren’t necessarily correct because people don’t have honest conversations about death.”
He says better communication will help people who are terminally ill make the most of the time they have with loved ones, and therefore choose not to end their lives too soon.
“Ironically, I think what people say and do at the end of their life defines their life,” says Nick.
For Elise, she knows that the end of her life will be filled with increasing pain and suffering as her body becomes more tolerant to the morphine she uses – making it less effective as a pain reliever. .
He fears a painful death and is happy that Bill will finally give people like him a choice.
“It gives them the right to a good death, that’s really important,” she says.
She points out that it would also save people the pressure of taking terminally ill loved ones abroad to die and the fear of legal action upon their return.
“It’s going to save a lot of pain and trauma.”
One of the things that struck him and Nick during the debate was the MP’s demeanor.
“I thought and by and large it was held very respectfully on both sides,” she says, and she hopes it will encourage people at home to discuss the issue in a similar way.
Nick goes further and says it was “absolutely edifying”.
He adds: “It was too big and I wish there was more to it. That’s how democracy works.”
For Ellis and his fellow campaigners, the democratic system has worked in their favor on this occasion.
“I’m so happy for everyone,” she says. “[Assisted dying] Something I’ve always felt strongly about, though it never occurred to me that one day I might need it.”
The bill probably came too late for her because she would probably be dead by the time it went into effect.
She is arranging to use the assisted dying service offered by Dignitas in Switzerland before the pain caused by her cancer becomes too much to bear.
Until then she will be spending as much time as possible with her family and celebrating with fellow campaigners after securing this latest step in the law change.
“I’m just incredibly grateful that I and tens of thousands of other people will be given the choice of a good death,” she tells us. “Or short a bad one.”
Hard Talk – The UK Assisted Dying Debate
The UK Parliament is considering proposals to legalize assisted dying. This will bring it on par with several European countries, Canada and several US states. Stephen Secker talks to actor and disability rights campaigner Liz Carr about whether the focus on a ‘good death’ is deviating from the right to a good life.