Dr. Matthew Dor?:

I do not know the specifics of this country, but there have been a couple of studies in the UK. I do not know the exact numbers but a couple of studies note that is often a transient request when we get on top of things. That is because people are in distress. This has to be understood, sometimes pain is a huge factor. People do not know how to describe distress and they call it pain. They are in pain, there is physical pain and total pain, which is encompassing all the other aspects of it. They are distressed and they do not know how to stop it. Palliative care takes a meticulous approach, going through and understanding things, valuing the person and trying to work through their physical, social and psychological symptoms. With all those things, the wish to die decreases hugely.

As people have said, there is a small minority, for which this does not apply. It is important to note that very strong proponents such as Noel Conway, who was in the media, died a peaceful death. That was in the newspapers. Even one of the strongest proponents for it, died a peaceful death. This comes back to the fundamental point of where is the evidence that we need this and what is the population we are trying to help. In a Dutch study, 43% of people had at least one unresolved symptom and that country has the most liberal laws. It is not changing symptomology across those jurisdictions; they have exactly the same. Who are we doing this for? Is it simply that we have become a society that is more and more afraid of death? Ireland is good in that it has a figure of 10% for non-complicated bereavement. The national average in the UK is 15%. That is because in Ireland there are many open caskets and a much better attitude. We need to emphasise that death is part of life and a natural event and not something to be medicalised and pre-empted.