Over 250 senior health professionals and doctors have called on Welsh politicians to reject the assisted dying bill currently before the UK Parliament.
In a public letter, they stated that presenting the bill before the parliament is not the solution to the problems, revealing that the failure of end of life care in Wales is as a result of a lack of palliative and limited hospice beds.
They cautioned that the move will weaken the country’s control over its healthcare system and endanger patient safety.
Signatories to the public letter includes former chief medical officer for Wales, Dame Deirdre Hine and palliative care consultants.
They wrote: “The bill’s definition of terminal illness fails to recognise the risks from mistaken diagnosis or misinformation. Accurate prognostication is impossible.”
They also caution that patients could feel pressured to seek assisted death, stating: “Patients will be eligible to access lethal drugs if they feel a burden or because of a lack of services.
“Coercion is often covert and difficult to detect, particularly when undue influence comes from family or from a person with authority.”
Concluding the letter with a plea, they said: “We urge the Senedd to decline legislative consent connected to this deeply flawed bill.”
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Dr Victoria Wheatley, a palliative care consultant in her view said: “The bill is currently being changed in Westminster, and we don’t know what the bill would look like in the end.
“So, it’s premature for the Senedd to agree that whatever comes out of Westminster is OK for Wales”.
Dr Wheatley, a signatory to the letter, added that the current state of the bill was “extremely unsafe for the population of Wales.
“Vulnerable people would be at great risk of having an assisted suicide when they shouldn’t do, and the safeguards with that are completely inadequate” she said on BBC Radio Wales Breakfast.
The Terminally Ill Adults Bill seeks to permit adults in England and Wales who are diagnosed with a life expectancy of less than six months to legally end their own lives under specified conditions.
Members of the Welsh Parliament are scheduled to vote on 20 January on whether to grant Westminster the authority to continue legislating on the matter on Wales’ behalf.
The Welsh Government has stated that it remains neutral on the issue, adding that the debate on the motion is intended to allow the UK Parliament to take the Senedd’s position into account before the Bill reaches its final stages.
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