Letters
Assisted dying: balancing safety with access
Medical and political paternalism and the end of life
BMJ 2025; 388 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.r34 (Published 15 January 2025) Cite this as: BMJ 2025;388:r34
- Charlotte Augst, community sector consultant
- London, UK
- charlotte.augst{at}outlook.com
The BMJ widely discussed the assisted dying bill that is currently at the committee stage in the UK parliament.1
Having worked for many years now for a health system that gives people more agency and dignity, I thought I had already come across all the arguments of medical paternalism. But I was wrong.
What I wasn’t prepared for in the discussion about the assisted dying bill was that the current state of palliative care would be used as an argument for why we shouldn’t have agency. …
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