Member

As anyone here who has faced a terminal diagnosis will know—it seems that many have and have lived to tell the tale—and as many noble Lords will know from friends and family, the first thing that a patient asks when they are told that the condition is incurable is, “How long?” It is usually hard to get a precise answer out of a doctor. The patient wants to know how long because they want to know the worst in order to arrange their affairs—financial or personal—and to work out how to spend the end of their life. The doctors can eventually be cajoled into giving a timescale, often reluctantly. When they do, it is usually to help a patient to organise their affairs, sometimes giving them a timescale so that they can access benefits or care support. I am concerned that the Bill will encourage a sense of six-month certainty—more definitive time-limit answers with fewer caveats. Doctors will think, “If I say six months, the patient will get access to services, but they might not if I am vaguer and say that I don’t know”.