Making a good end to life - part of the debate on the future of social care

“I would like to die because life is a constant battle with symptoms and I am worn down by this. More and more my life is taken over by daily tasks such as eating, dressing, and showering, leaving little time for anything else. I still love life very much but I am very tired of trying to make life enjoyable. I would like to die now whilst I still love life, and it is clear to my friends and family that I love life." Jan Sutton
https://www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-events/news/quakers-to-discuss-assisted-dying

We need to do more to give people in Jan's position better choices at the end of life.

The Prime Minister recently announced that he will begin cross party talks on the future of social care . That discussion should include consideration of what happens at the end of life.

First we need better access to end of life palliative care. According to the institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) 47% of people in Great Britain die in hospital but only 10% of medical staff feel equipped to deliver appropriate care at the end of life. The IPPR recommends that professionals working with people at the end of life should receive appropriate training and more effort should be put into delivering end of life care outside hospitals within the community.

Second we need to consider legalising assisted dying for those who want that option. Appropriate safeguards would be required. The option of assisted dying at a point of their choosing for people should be avaialable to those who are terminally ill or whose life has become intolerable to them due to chronic illness or disability and who have previously publicly expressed a wish for this option

Providing medical assistance to end a life is legal in Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Holland, Luxembourg, Switzerland and seven US States. Research among Canadians with experience of receiving palliative care showed that 78% of them wanted to have the option of assisted dying .
A survey by IPSOS Mori for the Economist in 2015 found that 58% of the population of Great Britain believed that people who are terminally ill or find life intolerable due to incurable physical or mental suffering should have the right to assisted dying. Subject to appropriate safeguards we need to have that right here

https://www.ippr.org/files/2018-05/end-of-life-care-in-england-may18.pdf
https://bmcpalliatcare.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12904-018-0304-6
https://www.economist.com/briefing/2015/06/27/attitudes-towards-assisted-dying