Prof. Mark Taubert

An article I wrote for the @guardian on the pressures of having to be overly positive - and some of the inherent dangers theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

Was not expecting this whilst in Japan: Didn't think I'd see, let alone drink, a wine from Beaune. The French twin town of my old German school city. All the way across the world. And we delved into the history of the HospicesDeBeaune almhouses #Sapporo #Hokkaido

Fascinating insight into this campaign. Jersey legislated for things not on the table at Westminster. In a sign of the real intent here's one of its key lobbyists calling for the same things here. They won't stop at this Bill. If they get it passed they'll be back for more.

Hi Simon. What i mean is that they sometimes fear the dying process, but most know very little about it. Hundreds of thousands of ordinary births and deaths each year, but the human brain focuses on the bad ones. Natural. But a bad death is not the norm, so pressure groups' fear campaigning "Dying is terrible and painful" is misplaced. And the evidence shows that where AD is practised, symptoms come very low in people's reason for exercising AD. I wish there was better (ordinary) death literacy, before the knee jerk solution of a chemical death is postulated and socialised everywhere.

@ProfMarkTaubert Not sure what you mean Mark. Patients fear death particularly the distress that many have to experience.

Fear, fear, fear. Promote it, package it, claim it.

@kesleeman Completely agree. The strange thing is that these are all reasonable politicians, but for some reason when it comes to this topic they will not take in the warnings, even those who would support AD.

“Ms Edwards, however, insists the bill is safe.” You can say “safest assisted dying bill in the world” You can say “multiple layers of safeguarding” You can even *insist* the bill is safe But it won’t make it so.

ありがとうございます What a privilege to present our Future Care Planning Cymru work at the 5th SCPSC 2026 in Sapporo, Japan. Huge interest in this topic worldwide, and similar challenges in talking about the latter phases of life. Have learned a lot. Arigatou gozaimasu

But best of all: every food need catered for, and it is so tasty. I think I may not go to any more European conferences..

Outside: Nakajima Park - walk and unwind in the breaks, with some green tea and your bento box. There is even a concert hall where you can catch some classical music in the early afternoon.

How to do conferences, Japan style.. 1) tasty and practical lunch bento box, combined with a fascinating keynote lecture. Eating and learning #SapporoConferenceSupportivePalliativeCare2026

I also went past a testing site yesterday where they are setting up the next generation bullet train, which will go at around 505 km/h , beating the Chinese trains

Took the Shinkansen Bullet train, Hayabusa5, from Tokyo to Hakodate today. If we had this beast in Cardiff, I think I could get to London in under 30 minutes...they don't wait around at the stops much, either..

On this day, 34 years ago, Tin Machine released their live album Oy Vey, Baby in 1992. Features live tracks from gigs in Boston, New York City, Tokyo and Sapporo during their It’s My Life tour in 1991/1992

大阪で開催中のWHXにウェールズ政府が出展、ライフサイエンス・スタートアップViamabとCansenseが参加し、人々の生活を変えうる新たな手法や技術を日本のパートナー候補に向けて紹介しています。 #Expo2025 のレガシーとして、今後大阪と英国、ウェールズの連携が更に深まることが期待されます。

Disgust in (Ordinary) Dying? - Observations from an eldery care resident doctor go.shr.lc/3RmChOe In @BMJ_SPCare @TradSkowronski #AssistedDying

Tokyo

Letter from Dr Matthew Doré, a Palliative medicine consultant in today’s Times. He’s right that we must do more to promote assisted living and not legitimise the fear that can lead to assisted suicide:   Assisted suicide Sir, The tragic case of Gill Pharaoh (“The healthy woman who chose to die and the doctor who helped”, Magazine, Jul 4) raises profound questions about our perception of mortality. Having spent my career as a palliative care consultant caring for over 10,000 patients, I feel compelled to challenge the prevailing fear that drove her decision. She wrote that she was “terrified” she’d have a stroke. Yet, as a retired nurse she offered a profound observation: “The most difficult aspect was [that it was] not the person who was dying who was the problem. It was everyone around them.” This encapsulates the reality that we often conflate the distress of the living with the experience of the dying. Dying is almost never physically painful. With modern palliative care, we can manage symptoms effectively; what we cannot manage is the fear of the unknown. We must be careful not to legitimise the idea that suicide is a rational response to the vulnerability of age or life’s uncertainties. Assisted dying does not eliminate grief; it often compounds it. The reverence of a natural death is not something we can afford to lose or else the cultural message sent is that old people are taking up space and resources.
Dr Matthew Doré
Palliative medicine consultant, Belfast @andyburnham @Tanni_GT @thelizcarr @frankcottrell_b @nmdacosta @RighToLifeUK @ShabanaMahmood @wesstreeting @BaronessHollins