I am a retired consultant paediatrician with a wide experience of 50 years in medicine and 12 years as a magistrate . I was a hospice foundation governor.
- An accurate prognosis that death will take place within six months is impossible.
- Three weeks from a request for assisted death, does not allow for due diligence or for a court to make a decision. Are there sufficient judges willing to take responsibility for such an action?
- Complications can arise from taking lethal drugs ,and death not take place for one or two hours in many cases.
- Doctors are unlikely to spot signs of coercion and families and next of kin may hold contrary views on assisted suicide.
- Because doctors may not support assisted suicide, those providing the lethal drugs will become a self selecting group at odds with colleagues.
- A growing societal expectation of suicide will impact its prevention in general.It is already very common.
- There is no provision in the Bill for palliative care . This is already often lacking or inadequate.
Signed;
Dr Anthony Cole JP FRCPE FRCPCH