I will never regret that our law protected her; preventing her from ending her life when she was vulnerable to despair. Those four years we shared were the most precious gift. Without them, Mum would have missed what she described as some of the richest times in her life and we would have missed understanding just what an amazing person she was.
03/09/2015 17:38 BST
As a society we are clear that suicide is not something to be encouraged or assisted. Legalising assisted suicide flies in the face of that. It sends the message that, if you are terminally ill, ending your life is something that society endorses and that you might want to consider. Is that really the kind of society we want?
14/07/2015 22:42 BST
England has the chance through my Private Member's Bill to improve care. The Bill would require all commissioners to ensure their patient population has access to seven day specialist palliative care services, that patients and their families have a clear point of contact in a crisis, that there is advice available at all times to front line staff caring for dying patients and that such staff have all received core training in good end of life care.
07/07/2015 09:41 BST
I do not doubt the motives of those who are pressing for legislation of this nature but I believe they are profoundly mistaken in believing that such practices can be controlled and vulnerable people protected from harm. We should wake up before it is too late.
23/06/2015 16:51 BST
I don't bulk-buy my opinions. I don't rely solely on emotion, polls of the general public or even the views of "people like me", to determine my position on where the balance of the law should rest. I consider the evidence.
03/06/2015 15:33 BST
With 355,000 people a year in need of palliative care in England alone, this conversation seems long overdue. The recent 'Dying without Dignity' report highlighted the problems and failings of a system that has the knowledge of what needs to be done but fails to make it happen.
01/06/2015 17:21 BST
There is no excuse for turning a blind eye to distress; those providing care, whether care assistant, family, nurse or doctor need to know they are supported in doing what the patient needs, not shackled by risk averse attitudes that paralyse common sense and hinder care provision.
22/05/2015 15:51 BST
