I thought I'd welcome assisted dying after mum's drawn-out death but vote terrifies me… MPs must stop ignoring experts
After watching my own mother suffer a drawn-out, hideous death I have often thought I would have welcomed a law like this too.
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But Friday's vote terrifies me.
I now fear for those of us who want an assisted death, as well as those of us who do want to stay alive.
A decision of this magnitude should never have been a private members' bill, it should have been presided over by Government ministers.
Corners have been cut, fundamental decisions left up in the air, and advice ignored in a desperate bid to rush it through.
That seems senseless when this bill really is a matter of life and death.
The first frightening milestone was when the plans to have a High Court judge approve each case were changed because the court doesn't have the capacity to preside over it.
But the NHS doesn't have the staff to spare either.
Now, to have an assisted death it will need two doctors, a social worker, a senior legal figure and a psychiatrist.
Anybody who has been stuck in the NHS system needing to see any of those knows that there are not enough to go round as it is.
And if anybody voting on Friday had stopped to listen, they would have heard many doctors saying they want no part in assisting suicide.
Which means that dying people spend their final — precious — days battling to get an assisted death.
Our own Health Secretary Wes Streeting said he was opposed to it because it would mean the NHS now has less money for other priorities. But he was ignored.
Former Home Secretary Sir James Cleverly warned a 'blank cheque' would be needed to get the service up and running. But he was ignored.
Doctors said it will be a 'real threat' to patients and medics because the NHS, already under-resourced and overspent, can't cope with this extra burden.
Again, they were ignored.
And nobody, cruelly, bothered to listen to the charities involved in hospices and disability who voiced their concerns.
I just hope the House of Lords does the decent thing now and stops to listen — and stop this bill going ahead.
Because our crumbling NHS hasn't got the time, or money, to deal with it.
Added pressure
Figures released on Friday show that the establishment of a voluntary Assisted Dying Commissioner and panels will cost about £13million a year. I imagine that really is the tip of the iceberg.
This huge sum will have to come from somewhere — and one of the biggest areas will be palliative care.
The bill's backers say healthcare costs at the end of life could be reduced by almost £60million after ten years. Which is great news, unless you actually don't want to die.
Now our underfunded palliative care will get less cash, there will be fewer places for vulnerable and weak people to access, more pressure on them, well . . . to die.
They may feel they have no other option but to say yes to the doctor — who is now actually legally allowed to ask them if they want an assisted death.
We will watch helplessly as people who have fought to live all their lives give up because they have little other option.
Just how scandalous is that?
Our NHS can't cope right now.
They are paying BILLIONS a year in compensation claims for clinical negligence. This added pressure will see those cases rise.
Meanwhile, NHS waiting lists will get longer and we will see more people dying who could have been saved.
While those who actually wanted help with their death will die long before they get to the front of the queue.
I THOUGHT we'd seen it all when Sharon Stone uncrossed her legs in Basic Instinct.
But in a racy new shoot for Vogue, the 67-year-old actress strips off to be worshipped by a sultry pile of hunky male models.
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Nice work if you can get it. And yet she claims to struggle with everyday concerns because: 'When it comes to life, we're all the same.'
I get the sentiment Shaz. But when you're a millionaire film star I imagine there's an awful lot less to worry about.
HUE 'N' CRY IS CRAZY
AFTER touring a lab in Norwich with Prince William to learn about fabric dye, actress Cate Blanchett says she will reconsider the colour of clothes she wears in the future.
Apparently, colours such as black, green, blue and even white are difficult to make without causing damage to the environment.
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You've got to feel sorry for the celebs who may now be judged on their colour choices as well as fashion ones.
Take Geri Horner, who has vowed to wear only white and hails it as 'a symbol of purity, cleanliness, immaculacy and perfection'.
Nope, now it also means you don't care about the environment.
AS a farmer's daughter I have always had a touch of vegaphobia, finding vegans a bit smug and self righteous.
So I couldn't help smirking when the founder of the toxic gossip website Tattle Life was unmasked and turned out to be Sebastian Bond, a very annoying, vegan blogger.
Perfect.
THERE are two words that are guaranteed to send a shiver down the spine of 'booze o'clock' mums and they are 'wine shortage'.
But start stockpiling, ladies, as it's about to happen.
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Workers at the country's biggest bottling plant are going on strike.
Gallons of New World wines are shipped to the UK in containers and bottled here to save transporting millions of heavy glass bottles.
I predict Prime-style stampedes for the last bottle of Sauvignon Blanc in Tesco.
CAN'T KID ME KATE
APPARENTLY if parents tell their kids they are naughty, the chances are that they are going to be naughty.
Sounds madness but child therapist and former BBC newsreader Kate Silverton explains that children internalise what we tell them and start to believe 'that's who I am'.
So instead, parents should say: 'I didn't like that behaviour.'
Which, when you think about it, does actually make sense.
And I was fully on board with Kate's advice until she added that children 'are not making conscious choices for the majority of the time'.
Hmm, she clearly didn't see the grin on my six-year-old's face this morning – trust me, he was definitely choosing to be naughty and most certainly knew what he was doing wrong.
ANGE'S BUZZIN'
SHE'S blunt, bolshie and terrifies the Tories.
And this week Angela Rayner did battle in the Commons with one of her four tattoos on display.
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As she took to the dispatch box, the Deputy Prime Minister did not seem to care who saw Celtic love knot on her wrist.
It may have raised a few eyebrows in the debating chamber, but she also has a red rose on her leg and a geometric design on the back of her neck.
Then there is the bee on her right shoulder, a symbol of Manchester's resilience and community spirit in the wake of the 2017 terrorist attack.
Even her harshest critics can't argue with that.
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