In the UK, the House of Lords has recently been debating an assisted dying bill, which would would allow doctors to prescribe a lethal drug dose to adults who are terminally ill and at the end of life (defined in the Bill as the last six months of life).
Writing for the UK edition of ehospice, Kathryn writes:
“When you are caring for someone who is dying, or when you yourself are dying, you often have thoughts that make you feel guilty. To paraphrase Viktor Frankl, you often have highly abnormal thoughts in response to a highly abnormal situation. You often don’t share these thoughts with your family for fear of what they might think of you, so who do you turn to?
“For many of us the people we choose to confide in are the hospice staff who become such a familiar part of our lives. They are the impartial angels who journey alongside us through a very dark time in our life and who have the wonderful ability to create a space in which we feel safe enough to be honest. Many of us will build strong relationships with these hospice professionals based on knowing that no matter what we say we will not be judged.
“My biggest concern is what will happen to these relationships if we speak out against the bill? Speaking out against something is a strong position to take; a position that could irrevocably damage the relationships with our communities that have taken decades to build.”
Read the full article on the UK edition of ehospice.
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