existentialgoof

Everyone should have access to excellent palliative care, and there is important work to do on this. I fully support this. I am also pleased to see Andy Burnham driving forward our manifesto commitment on a National Care Service at pace. At the same time, as so many of us have harrowingly experienced with loved ones, even the very best palliative care cannot remove all intolerable pain and make the end of life, and death, bearable. These are not mutually exclusive policies. The harmful status quo for a number of terminally ill adults is to either suffer longer and intolerably at the end of their lives, or to feel their only way to avoid a painful death or a loss of dignity is to take their own life alone, without their loved ones around them, given the law. They matter. Through the 2024 Bill’s debates and votes, Parliament has been catching up with the debate long happening in the country. And since then, already, many more of us have seen through our own experiences why this matters so much. I really don’t want the same for others in future too, where the individual’s choice would be different. This is naturally a complex and emotive issue, with differing views, which I respect. It is right to acknowledge that any decision here is an active choice with real impact, including for this group. That’s why continuing this debate - to the fullest - matters so much, and that we take a decision in Parliament on this Bill, with its important multi-year implementation timeline. This wider and vital work on care highlighted today should of course happen too. It’s not an either/or here. The realities for different people with varying terminal conditions are not identical, even when there’s nothing we’d wish for more than for that to not be the case, and for all intolerable pain to be possible to palliate. Choices can differ too. All are important. (I don’t usually turn my comments off, but I’ve found this topic to elicit extreme abuse rather than considered discussion on X, so I will do here.)