2nd September 2015

EXTRAORDINARY BIRMINGHAM MEDICAL INSTITUTE MEETING WITH GISELA STUART MP

Birmingham Medical Institute, 36 Harborne Road,

Birmingham, West Midlands B15 3AF

SESSION TIME:19.00-20.30 Wednesday 2nd September

SESSION :Competent to die? The Assisted Dying Bill 2015

EXPERT PANEL:

Gisela Stuart MP

Dr Debbie Talbot, Medical Director, Palliative Care

Dr Sarah Mitchell, GP

Dr Sam Finnikin, GP

Sohini Patel, Medical Student

SESSION INTRODUCTION:

On September 11th 2015 the Private Members Assisted Dying Bill (No 2) sponsored by Rob Marris MP will undergo its second reading in the House of Commons. The proposals of the bill were initially introduced by Lord Falconer. The bill intends to enable competent adults who are terminally ill to choose to be provided with medically supervised assistance to end their own life.

Care Not Killing the campaign for promoting care and opposing euthanasia highlight that there is significant opposition to this bill. They highlight that Prime Minister David Cameron stated in June 2015 that he does not support the assisted dying proposals. He expressed fear that this bill would put pressure on frail, elderly people to take a decision that they might not want to go ahead with.

In contrast the Campaign for Dignity in Dying claim that a 2015 Populus poll measured that 82% of 5000 people support these proposals. They appear to challenge the Prime Ministers fear for the frail and highlight that the Assisted Dying Bill would only apply to adults with mental capacity.

This is a matter raises questions about the role of health care services at the end of life, the value of life in the presence of severe persistent symptoms and what constitutes capacity to make life or decisions.

The 39th Maudsley Debate in 2010 at the Institute of Psychiatry the debate ended with a 50:50 split between does for and against such proposals. Beyond groups wishing to protect what they consider to be a fundamental sanctity of life, concerns were raised about the need to ensure that depressive suicidal symptoms were adequately treated amongst the terminally ill.

Liaison Psychiatrist Matthew Hotopf has raised the question of where the capacity bar can be set for people who express a wish to choose death given potential impact of multiple mental disorders on the capacity of individuals to weigh decisions up. For that matter can our lives be sacrificed as a means to end unbearable experiences, can this ever be an informed decision? As Noel Coward once said we have no guarantee that the afterlife will be any less exasperating than this one, have we?

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON SPEAKERS:

Gisela Stuart:  Labour MP for Birmingham Edgbaston since 1997, and health minister under Tony Blair’s government. Re-elected in May 2015.

Dr Sarah Mitchell: GP with an interest in palliative care and NIHR Doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Warwick. She was clinical lead for the Birmingham Cross City and South Central CCG palliative and end of life care strategy in 2014. Since then she was appointed to regional and national roles in palliative care. She is also chair of the West Midlands Paediatric Palliative Care network, and her PhD is in palliative care for children and young people.

Dr Sam Finnikin: A salaried GP at Ley Hill Surgery and an NIHR In-Practice Fellow at the University of Birmingham. He has followed the debate on assisted dying over many years and published a review on the topic for GP trainees.

Sohini Patel: Graduated from Kings College London with a BSc in Medical Ethics and Law and undertaking the 4^th year of the MBBS at the University of Birmingham. She was part of the Central London Docbate team, organising and hosting a debate on medical paternalism.