Prof. Mark Taubert
@ProfMarkTaubert
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NHS Palliative Medicine Consultant ★ Vice-President @EAPCvzw ★Chair Future Care Planning NHS Wales Exec ★Editor @BMJ_SPCare⚡🇩🇪 👨🎤
Wales, United Kingdom
Joined August 2013
An article I wrote for the @guardian on the pressures of having to be overly positive - and some of the inherent dangers
theguardian.com
It turns out that what people really value is honesty, says consultant Mark Taubert
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Had to read that twice. Refreshing.
So refreshing to hear witnesses in the Select Committee yesterday focusing on the practical dimensions of how the assisted dying Bill would work for terminally ill patients.
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Lurking underneath the 'compassion' and concern for autonomy of the #assistedsuicide campaign is a frightening utilitarian ethos that wishes to rid our society of inconvenient lives. Exactly the same arguments as today were heard in the 1930s.
Prof Martin Vernon, of the British Geriatrics Society, says there could be “pressure within the system” for assisted suicide to become a solution for the funding crisis in health and social care. “I do think that is a very real and present threat.”
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What’s all the fuss about capacity and the Terminally Ill Adults Bill? Watch @Capacitylaw explain the problem, in this brilliant walk-through of capacity, the decision to end one’s own life, and the TIA Bill.
Capacity, decisions to end one’s own life, and the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill:
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Congratulations to @AgnesAyton for winning the @rcpsych “Psychiatric Educator of the Year Award”! 🏆
#andthewinneris… @AgnesAyton from @OxfordhealthNHS. The judges noted that there were several impressive nominations for Psychiatric Educator of the Year, but Dr Agnes Ayton’s application stood out for her contributions at national level. Her most impressive contributions have
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Very informative thread on the relationship btw assisted dying and palliative care. I’d add one thing: in some places (eg 🇦🇺) legalisation of AD has been associated with an increase in palliative care funding. This is a POLICY CHOICE. It doesn’t just *happen* as a consequence of
1. How do assisted suicide laws affect palliative care? Big question this week, with Gordon Brown warning that the Leadbeater bill prioritises death over palliative care, and Leadbeater arguing “this is not an either-or”. Where does the evidence point? https://t.co/eo6vIaqKya
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@kesleeman @ProfMarkTaubert No RCTs, no licensed drugs, no adverse events data including failure to die, no international consensus between jurisdictions, no ability to apply "Bolam" in the UK as there is neither a body of "medical men" or women for that matter who have any experience to offer...
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Swiss have 80yrs experience of assisted dying. It is almost entirely outside healthcare. They're clear that AD is not a medical treatment: "Assisted suicide is not a medical action to which patients could claim to be entitled, even if it is a legally permissible activity."
💊ORWELLIAN! Pharmaceutical expert tells Peers it is "Orwellian" to suggest assisted suicide drugs are ‘medicines’ - they bring about death, whereas medicine treats & heals! This is so obvious but assisted suicide supporters love euphemism to disguise the reality of their Bill.
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The Q of whether assisted dying is a treatment (and whether lethal substances are ‘medicines’ in this situation) is critical, and has important medico-legal implications. Statutory ambiguity serves neither patients nor professionals. See:
bmj.com
The question of whether assisted dying is a treatment is of legal, philosophical, and clinical importance, write Gareth S Owen , Alex Ruck Keene , and Katherine Sleeman Assisted dying is back in UK...
💊ORWELLIAN! Pharmaceutical expert tells Peers it is "Orwellian" to suggest assisted suicide drugs are ‘medicines’ - they bring about death, whereas medicine treats & heals! This is so obvious but assisted suicide supporters love euphemism to disguise the reality of their Bill.
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Assisted suicide supporters constantly mislead the public about this dangerous piece of legislation. Assisted suicide has not strengthened care culture in Australia. The Daily Telegraph reported that palliative care funding was cut while assisted suicide funding got a boost.
“Introducing VAD has strengthened, not weakened, care culture. 80-85% of people who use VAD are already in receipt of palliative care & governments have invested more than A$1bn (£500m) in new palliative-care…. palliative care & choice go hand in hand”
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@ProfMarkTaubert See the Gosport War Memorial Hospital Report if you think something similar hasn't already happened here. And will happen again if the AD Bill becomes law.
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“the true aim of anticapitalism is not justice or social betterment — it is to narrow the boundaries within which people are capable of thinking for themselves.” —Yeonmi Park, defector from North Korea
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Assisted suicide is not treatment. It should not be anywhere near the NHS.
Seems clear an assisted suicide service will mean NHS cuts elsewhere. Asked what will be cut, Kinnock doesn’t deny the premise, but says “there will need to be some reprioritisation, identifying funding.” He can’t yet say “what we might stop doing, or doing in a different way.”
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We shouldn't have hospices funded on bake sales and fun runs and a suicide service funded on our taxes
🔥Baroness @LucianaBerger eloquently reminds the assisted suicide select committee about the lack of funding for hospice & asks how there could then be money available for an assisted suicide industry instead!
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No, Prof Whitty, I think you are confused. When my mum or dad says, “I’ve had enough, I want to die,” I am not ‘imposing my views’ on them by holding their hand and telling them “it’s OK, I love you & am here with you.” That’s not coercion - never coercion - it’s love. 😔
🚨GHOULISH FROM CHRIS WHITTY!! Chris Whitty labels stopping a loved one from seeking assisted suicide as “coercion” & claims such attempts are “IMPOSING” your view on the person who wishes to die. He clearly doesn’t believe in suicide prevention!
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I spent a large proportion of my working life preventing people from killing themselves. Many of those people were in distress and wanted nothing more than to die. Some of them ended up on a section, under constant 24 hour observation. Are you saying, Professor Whitty, that we
🚨GHOULISH FROM CHRIS WHITTY!! Chris Whitty labels stopping a loved one from seeking assisted suicide as “coercion” & claims such attempts are “IMPOSING” your view on the person who wishes to die. He clearly doesn’t believe in suicide prevention!
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Does a law permitting Assisted Dying embolden some rogue practitioners to go that step further? Prob delivering on all the KPI's and with an impressive appraisal folder.
bbc.co.uk
The palliative care nurse was convicted of the murder of 10 patients, and the attempted murder of 27 others.
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Speechless. Minister for palliative care. A specialty that values living, meticulous in reversing reversible problems in progressive illness. He implies that these pts are all dying anyway, sooner or later... Not a minister who understands palliative care @SKinnock
Very distressing answer from Stephen Kinnock when asked why the panel is unable to reject an application for early death caused by poor social care or support by @BaronessEB - citing @JamillaHussain1 & @Tanni_GT His tldr answer is: well, they’re dying anyway so who cares?
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Did Stephen Kinnock give false evidence today? Asked if people with unmet needs might receive AS, he said: “The conclusion of the [Equality Impact Assessment] is that those nine protected characteristics do receive adequate protection.” @SKinnock what page of the EQIA is that?
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Words cannot express how contemptible are some assisted suicide supporters. Here family members are told that persuading their loved ones not to commit suicide is a problem and even coercion. Just disgraceful.
Evidence from New Zealand challenges claims about coercion. Disabled patients reported that relatives tended to urge them away from assisted dying rather than push them toward it. #AssistedDying
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Wonderful experience speaking at @GreshamCollege today with a full Barnard's Inn Hall and a very engaged audience. Thanks to Jeff for letting me demonstrate the Sylvester method of CPR
#Onthisweek 🌏 China’s Economic Prospects – George Magnus ⚖️ Minor Criminal – Lord Daniel Finkelstein ❤️ DNR Forms – Prof Mark Taubert 💰 Limitarianism & Capitalism – Prof Ingrid Robeyns 👩💼 How Women Made the Global Economy – Dr Victoria Bateman Tune in: https://t.co/HRbf0jXhyW
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It comes straight from the @dignityindying playbook. Death on demand and at any cost to our #society and to the professionals and their families who may well be involved. They don't go out to work in the morning to help somebody kill themselves @ScotParl
🚧Scottish Assisted suicide Bill sponsor, Liam McArthur MSP dismisses safeguards as “barriers” to access. This cavalier approach to protecting the vulnerable ought to ring alarm bells for every MSP considering the flawed legislation.
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