Dignity in Dying

Returning to a controversial subject for which I have been criticised before on this blog, I would like to introduce you to someone who talks a lot of sense.

The lady on the left is Dr. Ann McPherson CBE. Ann qualified as a doctor in 1968 and was a general practitioner in Oxford for 30 years until 2008.

She is a fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners and Green College Oxford, and a patron of Dignity in Dying.

On Monday morning she appeared on the BBC Breakfast programme to highlight the issue of 'physician assisted death'. As I understand it, she supports the idea in principle  - for people of sound mind with limitted time left to live who find their pain insufferable.

Earlier this year, she wrote the following in the Guardian :

"I am dying of pancreatic cancer. I wish I wasn't. But dying isn't a failure on my part, it is part of life. I wish to live as long as possible, but not at the expense of enduring an undignified death. In the final days or weeks of my life, if I consider my suffering to be unbearable, I would like the choice to die at home at a time of my choosing surrounded by my loved ones."

You can read the full article by clicking >here< and I urge you to do so.

The reason for her appearance was to reopen this debate prior to the GPs conference later this week. She knows it is an important subject and wants to ensure that the debate is kept in the public eye.

I encourage you to find out more about this issue because, who knows, it may well effect you one day...