I treat patients at the end of their lives...this is why I oppose the assisted dying bill - Renee Hoenderkamp
Kim Leadbeater details assisted dying bill
GB News
Doctor Renee Hoenderkamp is a GP, TV presenter and regular GB News contributor
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This week the assisted dying bill, which I prefer to call the assisted suicide bill, will be debated in the Houses of Parliament.
I am torn about having the ability to decide how and when I die should some terrible accident or disease befall me.
I am, after all, born a free human and tend to argue for more, not less, freedom over our own bodies and should surely therefore, maintain the right to make this decision.
And yet, I hesitate and feel distinctly uncomfortable with there being a law to make the right to die easier. From my day-to-day work as a GP, my concerns centre around the elderly and vulnerable and pressure being applied to them from outside and indeed from within when they feel a burden, as so often the elderly and disabled do.
Too often have I spent time with the elderly who feel that they have served their purpose, that they are a burden to their family and it is often hard for me to convince them to the contrary.
But more worrying is the coercion that many of these vulnerable people are under from their direct family. Sadly, whilst people often poopoo this as very rare, it isn’t.
We see examples often in the press about the family at war over a will, over the long-estranged child, partner, or friend suddenly reappearing when the chips are down.
Where there is potentially the equivalent of a small lottery win from Grandma’s house, Grandpa’s bank balance, and Daddy’s coin collection, morals that were once evident are often quick to leave the building.
I have even seen family members move into Granny’s house whilst she was in stroke rehabilitation and then frustrate every effort to discharge her. Sadly, it seems that some people are just not to be trusted.
I understand that many people suffer dreadfully leading up to their death, and the main issue tends to be pain. I treat people in the months, weeks and days to their death, and I do see suffering.
I am not trying to pretend that everything is rosy. However, this, I believe, is the problem, not facilitating state-sanctioned suicide. We should focus our efforts, resources and training on excellent palliative care.
At the moment, only one in four people facing their lives end up getting good palliative care. Within good care, there is the option at the end to offer Palliative sedation (also called terminal and total sedation or continuous deep sedation where the patient effectively sleeps without suffering until death.
Sadly, what more often happens is that a patient who wants to die at home is surrounded by friends and family. What happens so often without good palliative care is they end up in A&E on a trolley in the middle of the night desperate for relief from suffering and deprived of dignity.
I have seen people admitted to the ward, given proper pain relief and after a few days be keen to go home for a death with proper palliation surrounded by friends and family as they so wished. This is what should happen before they reach A&E. It is of course understandable that anyone who has witnessed this may want the option to press a button and skip this horror.
And herein lies the problem with the assisted suicide bill – it is missing the real issues. Firstly, people don’t need to suffer as they so often do, and we need to sort that out.
Secondly, I just don’t believe that the ‘safeguards’ can ever guard completely against this person who may go on to apply unwitnessed but present coercion that potentially makes the vulnerable seek to die because they feel obliged to lift the burden they present.
No law can identify and prevent this, and I just can’t accept one vulnerable person dying who didn’t really want to so that my freedom is protected. I am prepared to sacrifice this freedom to protect those who need protecting.
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