YES
If assisted dying is legalised the answer is:
A socio-legal model would
1) Have decisions made by a statutory authority who would appoint multidisciplinary panels and monitor all parts of the process.
2) Make the UK the first in the world to provide scrutiny during the decision-making process.
3) Be outside mainstream clinical care
4) Ensure all requests are heard by skilled legal and clinical experts
5) Enable healthcare professionals to opt-in as opposed to having to opt-out
6) Ensure a central reporting system transparently monitors the process
Fact: Most healthcare professionals are not trained to detect coercion
Fact: healthcare services are already stretched and exhausted. Experienced staff are in short supply
Fact: Healthcare professionals commonly miss treatable depression
Fact: No drug regulatory authority anywhere in the world has approved assisted dying drugs and doses. Consequently, very few doctors are willing to do this (1-2% in Canada, Oregon and Australia).
Fact: dispensing, preparing and administering assisted dying drugs demands careful monitoring and recording. This is missing in many jurisdictions
Fact: Estimates of work invovled in each assisted death vary from 15 to 60 hours
Fact: some medical assisted dying jurisdictions (eg. Canada) are insisting all services must offer and practice assisted dying on their premises. Assisted dying-free care is no longer a choice in these jurisdictions.
Fact: Nearly 1 in 10 assisted deaths in Oregon have a complication and yet protocols for managing those problems are uncommon and often incomplete.
Fact: the impact on healthcare professionals can be profound with nearly a quarter suffering longterm psychological consequences.
Fact: The impact on organisations is considerable.
