Good palliative care and assisted dying can go hand in hand | Letters
Source: Guardian Health ↗
A hospice nurse recounts the final hours of a patient named John, whose terminal cancer left him in excruciating pain that could not be quickly controlled and ultimately caused him to suffocate despite all medical interventions. The nurse describes how John, fully conscious and repeatedly pleading that he could not continue, spent three months occupying a hospice bed before dying in a state of relentless suffering that could not have been alleviated by any amount of funding. The writer argues that while better‑funded palliative care would reduce needless anguish for many, it would not have granted John the option to end his life on his own terms; therefore, improving palliative services and legalising assisted dying should be pursued together, freeing hospice resources for those who need them.
Another contributor highlights the stark financial imbalance between emergency hospital care and hospice provision, noting that the Nuffield Trust reports £6.6 billion spent on emergency care in the last year of life compared with only £1.1 billion to run all 204 UK hospices, including the 24 NHS‑run facilities. A former consultant physician estimates that comprehensive specialist palliative care for a population of 250,000 costs about £5 million annually, suggesting a national requirement of roughly £1.4 billion for the entire UK. If enhanced palliative services could prevent just 10 percent of emergency admissions in the final year, the resulting savings would offset the funding gap and potentially reduce overall NHS expenditure, underscoring the economic case for investing in palliative care alongside end‑of‑life choice.
A third letter, written by a woman living with incurable secondary breast cancer, questions what will happen to patients whose suffering cannot be relieved even by the best palliative care. She points out that some individuals, like herself, cannot tolerate opioid painkillers and therefore experience uncontrolled pain despite optimal medical support. While she agrees that palliative care must be universally accessible and that the “postcode lottery” must end, she stresses that assisted dying remains a necessary option for those for whom excellent palliative care still fails to alleviate suffering. The correspondence collectively calls for simultaneous action: substantial investment in palliative services and the legalization of assisted dying to ensure that all terminal patients receive compassionate, effective, and choice‑driven end‑of‑life care.
⚡ Effects Interpreter
🌍World Economymedium impact
What this means for you
- ▶The ripples can spread across borders, nudging growth forecasts here and there.
- ▶Global boardrooms tend to take notice when this kind of news surfaces.
🏙️Local Economylow impact
What this means for you
- ▶Small firms on your street may pass costs on cautiously, bit by bit.
- ▶Prices at your local shops may feel a gentle, indirect squeeze from this.
🏦Rates & Bankslow impact
What this means for you
- ▶A change in the cost of money, if it comes, will likely arrive subtly.
- ▶A modest drift in borrowing costs is more plausible than a sharp jump.
❤️Healthlow impact
What this means for you
- ▶Local health services could steer resources towards this issue.
- ▶Good information, shared kindly, can settle a lot of nerves.
💷Wealthlow impact
What this means for you
- ▶The financial side of health news is easy to overlook, but it adds up.
- ▶Employers might see a knock-on cost if sick leave rises locally.
🏠Housinglow impact
What this means for you
- ▶Renters may see costs drift a little as landlords weigh their own bills.
- ▶A cooling or warming market usually takes months to fully show up in prices.
🌍 Effects for your country
The U.S.'s central bank rate currently stands at 3.75%, so a global rates move like this could feed through to local borrowing costs. The U.S.'s economy is growing at 2.3% with inflation at 3.2%, the backdrop this story's effects play out against locally. Housing-market effects like this are usually felt most where mortgage rates track the U.S.'s own central bank rate closely. With the U.S.'s unemployment at 4.4%, personal-finance effects like this land on a labour market that is currently fairly stable. Health-system effects are harder to localise from economic indicators alone — the real impact in the U.S. depends more on local healthcare capacity than the figures above.
The UK's central bank rate currently stands at 3.75%, so a global rates move like this could feed through to local borrowing costs. The UK's economy is growing at 0.8% with inflation at 3.2%, the backdrop this story's effects play out against locally. Housing-market effects like this are usually felt most where mortgage rates track the UK's own central bank rate closely. With the UK's unemployment at 5.6%, personal-finance effects like this land on a labour market that is currently fairly stable. Health-system effects are harder to localise from economic indicators alone — the real impact in the UK depends more on local healthcare capacity than the figures above.
France's central bank rate currently stands at 2%, so a global rates move like this could feed through to local borrowing costs. France's economy is growing at 0.9% with inflation at 1.8%, the backdrop this story's effects play out against locally. Housing-market effects like this are usually felt most where mortgage rates track France's own central bank rate closely. With France's unemployment at 7.9%, personal-finance effects like this land on a labour market that is already under strain. Health-system effects are harder to localise from economic indicators alone — the real impact in France depends more on local healthcare capacity than the figures above.
Romania's central bank rate currently stands at 6.5%, so a global rates move like this could feed through to local borrowing costs. Romania's economy is growing at 0.7% with inflation at 7.8%, the backdrop this story's effects play out against locally. Housing-market effects like this are usually felt most where mortgage rates track Romania's own central bank rate closely. With Romania's unemployment at 6%, personal-finance effects like this land on a labour market that is currently fairly stable. Health-system effects are harder to localise from economic indicators alone — the real impact in Romania depends more on local healthcare capacity than the figures above.
The UAE's central bank rate currently stands at 3.65%, so a global rates move like this could feed through to local borrowing costs. The UAE's economy is growing at 3.1% with inflation at 2.5%, the backdrop this story's effects play out against locally. Housing-market effects like this are usually felt most where mortgage rates track the UAE's own central bank rate closely. Health-system effects are harder to localise from economic indicators alone — the real impact in the UAE depends more on local healthcare capacity than the figures above.