Assisted Dying in England and Wales – one step closer.
A profound and radical shift took place last week, and at the Good Funeral Guide, we feel it is essential to acknowledge it. On Friday 29th November, the Private Members Bill sponsored by Kim Leadbeater MP, The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, passed its second reading in the House of Commons with 330 votes in […]
Just checking
In the good old days, death happened before we were ready for it. It struck untimely. Now, it creeps up, perhaps getting to us long after we have timed out. Which raises the question: when is a timely death? Journalist Matthew Parris is not alone in contemplating old age with trepidation. In a recent article he asked […]
Never say die
The Falconer Bill on assisted dying is making its way through the Lords before going on to the Commons, and the familiar debate rages once more. The usual suspects oppose it. They include senior doctors and lawyers and, you probably think, a lot of religious people, yes? And disabled people? Actually, the stats show support […]
Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace…
An average 68 per cent of Canadians favour the legalisation of assisted suicide, but the Court of Appeal in British Columbia has just rejected it. Read more here. The arguments for and against assisted dying, assisted suicide, dying with dignity, call it want you will, will be with us for some time to come, but […]
When death is no longer the worst thing that can happen to you
It’s not the worthy efforts of the members of the Dying Matters coalition that have raised awareness of the need to talk about death and dying. What’s actually got more and more of us talking is our personal experiences of the difficult and protracted end-of-life suffering of members of our families. Alongside twenty-first century death […]
How do you define ‘dying’?
Sarah Wootton, chief exec of Dignity in Dying, wrote in Friday’s Times about the case of Paul Lamb, who wants to be allowed to die: Dignity in Dying is not fighting for an unfettered right to die, but for the right of dying people to die well. We believe that right must be based on two core […]
Weighing the End of Life
ONE weekend last year, we asked our vet how we would know when it was time to put down Byron, our elderly dog. Byron was 14, half blind, partly deaf, with dementia, arthritis and an enlarged prostate. He often walked into walls, stood staring vacantly with his tail down, and had begun wandering and whining […]
Seeing it through
In the summer edition of the Oldie magazine (strapline: ‘Everybody buys it eventually’), Mavis Nicholson discusses the case for the ‘right to die’. She says: I had a conversation with an even more elderly chap than me, a GP all his working life, who was in very bad shape. He said he thought it was […]
Time’s up, take yourself out
A theme that we like to explore on this blog is the way in which longevity has reconfigured the landscape of dying. The blessing of long life has its downside: protracted decline. We are likely to linger longer, much longer, than our forebears. There’s a physical cost in chronic illness and possibly, also, mental enfeeblement. […]
Assisted death — no
George Pitcher is an Anglican priest and journalist. This is what he wrote about his mother’s death: I tried to kill my mother in 1993. I didn’t attempt the act myself, you understand, but I asked a nurse to increase her morphine dosage to a lethal level, so that she might be washed away on […]
