Would you? The RCP Assisted Dying survey

  Doctors in England are being asked to answer a survey on their attitudes to assisted dying (AD). The Daily Mirror led on it on their front page today (Monday 14th Jan). The Royal College of Physicians wants to be sure that it current oppositional stance is a true representation of members' views, and is prepared...

Introduction to ‘From Every Angle’

  In this the 6th collection of posts from Illusions of Autonomy I have explored complex situations through the perceptions and voices of those involved. This exercise is creative, and was inspired by William Faulkner’s 1930 novel As I Lay Dying. In this he describes the final days of Addie Bundren in the voices of...

Outside The Circle

  - 1 - Lisa got to know him, and that was the mistake. At the time it did not feel like a mistake; it felt like normal human behaviour. Vivaan Bajpayee was 38, and he had been struck down in full flight, almost literally. One minute he was transferring through Heathrow from Amsterdam to...

Newbie

  My first midnight ward round in the intensive care unit, and still pretty inexperienced. The patient in cubicle 4 was deteriorating. His oxygen requirement was maximal, the pressure settings on the ventilator had crept up. His lungs were stiffening, be it due to infection, fluid overload or a tense abdomen... I could not be...

Resilience – from within or without?

  I have been confused about resilience. To me, it always seemed very sensible to focus on it, this ability to 'bounce back from tough times, or even triumph in the face of adversity'. It surely is part of the ‘hidden curriculum’, as Horne and Peters refer to it in their BMJ article, ‘Ensuring our...

Wrecker

On this blog I have explored the challenges involved for doctors who engage patients in conversations about resuscitation. I have written about the emotional energy consumed in initiating them, and in The Hill, a series of 7 episodes, I described the spectrum of reactions seen in patients and relatives. Recently I gave a lecture that...

Asymptote: answering the dreadful question

Working in a specialty that is almost overwhelmed by '2 week wait' referrals (patients who are sent by their GPs with a suspicion of cancer), I am often asked, 'How long?' For some patients, inevitably, are found to have incurable disease. It is the job of me and my colleagues to provide an answer. Frequently,...

The problem of late-stage consent in Assisted Dying

Assisted-dying law in Canada requires the person to be alert and able to provide consent just before their death. The Government of Canada website on Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) says, You must be able to give informed consent both: at the time of your request immediately before medical assistance in dying is provided This seemingly...

Fear and medicine – friend, foe, natural bedfellow?

Juliet entered the ward expecting a normal, busy day. But the face of her colleague Nethmi who met her by the nurses’ station told her that something was up. “What?” asked Juliet, responding to Nethmi's wordless warning. “Mr Peterson. Bed 19. They took his vascath out last night.” “So?” “Did you tell the nurse to...