Melody Redman

After hours of scrutiny, and no meaningful changes to the Bill accepted, experts and professional bodies have not changed their position: The Assisted Dying Bill remains deeply flawed and unsafe. Bill supporters blame everyone else but won’t make the Bill safe.

Important polling, revealing the nuances in public opinion: —Public does not think it’s worth sacrificing safety for concept of choice —83% want psychiatric protections not in the UK bills —82% want palliative care guarantee not in the UK bills —76% want protections for poverty, lack of access to care and feeling a burden not in the UK bills —84% against doctors raising it unprompted (UK bills permit this) —67% support an opt-out for hospices and care homes; just 13% agree with Falconer and McArthur in opposing an opt-out

Signatories inc. former Chief MO Dame Deirdre Hine, multiple professors in palliative and respiratory medicine, consultants, psychiatrists, GPs, specialist nurses, paramedics, physiotherapists and pharmacists argue the Bill is poorly designed and unsafe nation.cymru/news/hundreds-…

250 Welsh healthcare professionals, including a former Chief Medical Officer, condemn the AS bill: “Those who are distressed as they face a terminal illness deserve better… Patients will be eligible to access lethal drugs if they feel a burden or because of a lack of services.”

BREAKING: More than 100 free speech experts from around the world today wrote to the European Commission, warning the EU’s Digital Services Act risks censoring global speech online. The experts’ letter was signed by @shellenberger, @Ayaan and many others. Link to full letter⬇️

Medics! 🧬Are you interested in clinical genetics as a specialty? 🧬 Find out more at this @clingensoc online workshop on 29th September 1-4.30pm #genomics #genetics #residentdoctors

Aaaaand… “palliative care” is mentioned once. Once. In 168 pages. Our 10 year plan for dying people is: - Neighbourhood teams will include hospice and palliative care staff. - Use of Personal Health Budgets for accessing hospice care.

We have raised concerns about existing deficiencies in the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill. We believe the bill in its current form lacks adequate protections for patients and professionals. Full statement: ow.ly/EOhP50W692q

Please, MPs, before you vote on tomorrow’s AD bill, I beg you to ask yourselves why the @rcpsych felt compelled to publicly oppose it…. Ask yourselves why the vast majority of palliative care doctors, geriatricians & groups representing people with disabilities, eating disorders & domestic violence all also oppose it. What unites us is *not* a lack of compassion (for those in which the wish for AD is clear cut & uncontentious) - but our expert knowledge of the myriad ways in which vulnerable people can be - and are - silenced, pressured & coerced into supposedly “free” choices. This bill is rushed, reckless and slapdash. It fundamentally lacks the safeguards it needs to ensure coercion of vulnerable people does not occur. Its supporters have misrepresented our testimony time & again by pretending our concerns don’t exist. (I gave evidence in Jan to the committee & my views were explicitly misrepresented afterwards.) I am a palliative care doctor who is not opposed to AD - but I feel sick at the harms to patients that will occur if this bill, at this time, is passed. Please don’t do it. Please consider the vulnerable people who, unlike Esther Rantzen, do not have a platform or a hotline to Downing St. The people who most need our advocacy. Please vote no.

🧵As a GP with a palliative care interest, I am deeply concerned by the #assisteddyingbill. It not only threatens my vulnerable patients, it is built upon fundamental misconception.10 examples below: 🧵 @SarahCoombesWB @SoniaKumarMP @AlexBallingerMP @CNKAlliance @ddhitchens 👇👇

Ahead of the second report stage debate in the @HouseofCommons and the pivotal third reading of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill expected on 20 June, we have published a position statement highlighting our key concerns with the bill. buff.ly/I7No4vt

In the #AssistedDying debate, “choice” is constantly invoked, as it was in today’s debate, as if it trumps every other consideration. But choice isn’t exercised in a vacuum. It’s an uneven principle, influenced by mood, inequality & awareness of options.

@yorkshirepost @lukejcr @RachaelMaskell

"This vote should not be about an ideological position, with practicalities swept under the rug until a later date. A change in the law would mean investment in assisted death, while palliative care services struggle for breath." #AssistedDyingBill yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/opinion/l…

"This bill will widen inequalities, it provides inadequate safeguards and, in our collective view, is simply not safe,"news.sky.com/story/its-simp…

How the Leadbeater bill will protect you, assuming you have a 6-month prognosis:

Clinical studies showed that patients with the RNU2-2 disorder have dev del, microcephaly & seizures. Whereas RNU5B-1 disorder causes global developmental delay and a tendency towards macrocephaly.

We are excited to share our new paper out today in Nature Genetics which explores de novo mutations in DNA secondary structure and identifies two novel #diseasegenes nature.com/articles/s4158…

Comprehensive rejection of #AssistedDying Bill in 9 succinct points from the Royal College of Psychiatrists @rcpsych.

Dangerous flaws with #AssistedDyingBill raised by @rcpsych who say they cannot support the Bill as significant concerns have not been addressed.