Former prime ministers in the UK, including David Cameron, Theresa May, Liz Truss, and Boris Johnson, have expressed their support for legalizing assisted dying in England and Wales. However, critics question the sincerity of their compassion, as they failed to improve palliative care during their time in office. Wes Streeting, the health secretary, voted against the bill citing the inadequacies of the current palliative care system, which denies many patients a genuine choice at the end of life.
Authors of the article, who have cared for thousands of terminally ill patients, argue that much of the suffering at the end of life can be alleviated with good palliative care. They highlight the dire realities of underfunded and patchy palliative care services in the UK, which force patients to conclude that death is their only option. The article calls on Streeting and Keir Starmer to address the underfunding of palliative care and commit to a significant increase in public funds to ensure that dying patients receive the care they need.
The authors acknowledge the importance of initiating a national conversation about end-of-life care, thanks to Kim Leadbeater’s bill. However, they stress the urgency of properly funding palliative care to prevent the continued failure of dying people in the UK. They urge Starmer and Streeting to prioritize this issue and not follow in the footsteps of previous political figures who have neglected the needs of terminally ill patients.
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