Tanni Grey-Thompson

LIVE NOW: The assisted dying bill has divided Britain along philosophical, religious and ethical lines. Coming together to discuss the existential problem of euthanasia are: philosopher @Docstockk, @RabbiRomain and journalists @soniasodha & @DAaronovitch. twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…

@GWRHelp @beccajiggens Really not the point. Up to staff on the train.

Good evening Becca. I'm very sorry to hear that. Can you still access this chair easily? Please ask the customer with the bag to remove this when you require access to the chair. I'm very sorry to hear that this has happened. Please inform another member of staff if you require any assistance - Steve

@GWRHelp I'm on 6.03 from Paddington to Penzance in First Class. The train manager has refused to require a passenger to remove his luggage from the wheelchair space, where it is leaning up against my rollator/chair.

@OtherHalfOrg @Tanni_GT The utilitarian advantages of speed (8.5 mins to cardiac arrest), efficient planning (can line ops up), and an opt out system like ours are readily apparent. But the ethical issues need careful thought not a shoddy PMB and ministers with all the power. journals.lww.com/transplantjour…

Esther Rantzen says MPs need to "invoke the Parliament Acts" and force an identical bill, with all its flaws, on to the statute books. They're looking for 200 MPs willing to do that to their most vulnerable constituents. A 🧵on their plan 1/ news.sky.com/story/how-fox-…

@AshleyDalton_MP Or bypass the HoL

Just appalled that the response to the campaign’s failure to successfully navigate the full parliamentary process including scrutiny, for their PMB is to next time fully stack the committee with yes people, and they call it democratic! news.sky.com/story/how-fox-…

Very pleased to get a very positive review of my new book against assisted death in the Telegraph today. Do Not Go Gentle by Kathleen Stock: 4-star review telegraph.co.uk/books/non-fict…

The Joint Parliamentary Committee hearing input on Canada's Medical Assistance in Dying regime has met twice with four witnesses. University of Toronto Professor Dr. Trudo Lemmens is an authority on Canadian health law and bioethics. He cautioned the group of 10 MPs and five Senators against recommending further expansion of assisted suicide. Dr. Lemmens says #MAiD steers people towards premature death rather than protecting them. “Canada’s MAID law and policy emphasize access over protection,” Dr. Lemmens said. “The question before Parliament is very concrete… will the law strengthen guardrails and prioritize suicide prevention, or do the opposite?” Inclusion Canada agrees. Track 2 MAiD should be repealed. It discriminates against persons with disabilities. Individuals should be given the supports they need to live a good life. Government should not widen #MAiD access for people with mental illness. Dr. Lemmens is a member of the Chief Coroner of Ontario MAiD Death Review Panel and has been an expert witness on MAiD cases. He is also co-author of Unravelling MAiD in Canada: Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide as Medical Care. (Video courtesy Parliament of Canada) #cdnpoli

Reminder: the powers which the Bill so liberally bestows on ministers - including to change every aspect of the NHS - are largely unfettered. They can be used again and again, till ending people’s lives permeates every aspect of the NHS and society. @Docstockk is clear sighted

. @GWRHelp - Your Mobility Scooter policy document (linked from GWR website) and how to apply for a scooter permit contains blank pages Please can you share your Scooter policy and how to apply for a permit @railandroad gwr.com/-/media/gwr-sc…

'This is an atrociously worded bill!' @WillKingston admits that whilst he supports assisted dying in principle, he has criticised the wording of the bill for lacking adequate safeguards and believes it should be scrapped.

"Organ donation after euthanasia starting with anesthesia at home is legal in The Netherlands, Belgium, Canada and Spain" Read that headline! They're anaesthetizing you at home. Then they take your warm, living body to an operating room to remove your organs. You die of waking up without organs.

@LouShack @OtherHalfOrg journals.lww.com/transplantjour…

@LouShack @OtherHalfOrg Of course not. That is why they take them before the assisted death.

Noelia, the young Spanish woman whose life will be ended this evening (perfectly lawfully), will have her organs reused to help others. Like many others euthanised in Spain: where organ donation is 50 times more common after euthanasia deaths than average deaths. A full 12% of those who died by euthanasia in 2023 donated their organs. Less than 1% of deaths by other means result in organ donation. Some working in organ donation welcome the opportunity to boost donations thanks to assisted deaths - where the timing of death can be known in advance. But surely this must exert its own terrible pressure on those considering whether to die and to donate - as Noelia's family's lawyer says below.

Canada euthanized a man for partial blindness in the latest suicide-by-doctor story. CTV's framing? Not that these stories are horrifyingly common, but that Alberta's incoming laws to protect the vulnerable and suicidal would "eliminate the choice of those with degenerative disorders who may want to prepare for their death." Some days, I'm convinced that half of Canada's press corps are secret eugenicists. ctvnews.ca/edmonton/artic…

@michaelgove @RestIsPolitics @campbellclaret Very happy to

Always enjoy listening to @RestIsPolitics but @campbellclaret errs, I think, in his analysis of both the bill and the lords process - worth getting Illora Finlay or Tanni Grey-Thompson on to explain

When the High Court was stripped out and replaced with a panel, supporters said they had looked to Spain for inspiration...

@Tanni_GT Doctors in Australia (model for Westminster Bill) welcome Voluntary Assisted Dying organ donations as "an opportunity": "10-15% of those accessing VAD may be able to become organ donors, with many more potentially suitable for eye and tissue donation"

Lord Stevens, former CEO of NHS England, says defining AS as a treatment would be incoherent, and could undermine conscience protections: “The professional duties on a doctor are potentially in play… It will give rise to questions of the obligations on a doctor to raise [AS].”

Those claiming that Medically Assisted Dying is safe for all need to listen to expert views from Canada like this:

Thank you Baroness Grey-Thompson @Tanni_GT Tell the world what the Death Squad did to us and will do to you - given the chance!