We speak to GP’s, physio’s and palliative care workers about the proposed assisted dying bill, and the opinion is well and truly split.
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00:00And as a GP I've seen plenty of probable deaths and I think there is a much better way and I
00:08I think it's patronising that we are not allowed to say what we want from something that is so
00:14important to us. Whereas in the NHS people can choose the colour of their pills, they can
00:21opt for just about anything, they can have a birth in a water bath or they can have a
00:28cesarean section, but for the really important issue that comes to us all in the end,
00:35you're not allowed to make a choice. I've worked in the NHS for over 20 years, I'm actually a
00:40physiotherapist by training and I am so happy to hear from a GP that he has been looking at
00:48the moral issues and the future, because the future is we cannot and should not keep everybody
00:55alive regardless and I sincerely hope by the time my time comes we will have respect for
01:02people's choices and I have seen many horrible lives at the end of life and I think it is only
01:10sensible and fair and compassionate that we allow people to make a choice at the end of their life
01:17and to die with dignity and in a timely manner and I agree it is patronising to think we should
01:25keep people alive regardless of what they want or their circumstances. I think one of the things
01:32that's really struck me about those who are on the dignity and dying side is that they've
01:39experienced very traumatic deaths of loved ones and their stories often come out of stories of
01:48pain and I'm a palliative care doctor myself and so we were just talking about the reality of that
01:56but also how this legislation, what would be the impact of this legislation
02:02and we're talking about, because the person I was with is another medic, I was talking to him
02:08about really what it's like to deal with vulnerable patients and the fact that actually for the vast
02:16majority of people they feel they have a lack of control in their lives so when this bill actually
02:23one of the elements of this bill is to say that the doctor can bring up the option of assisted
02:29dying, I was saying we become the agents of coercion then and so we were sort of coming to
02:39understanding that he felt that this bill was the start of a process. My personal feeling is it could
02:46be the start of a process but it's never going to take away from the fact that for the vast majority
02:51of people this bill causes a lot of risk for them.