Dear Colleague,
The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Dying Well promotes access to excellent palliative care and/ stands against the legalisation of assisted suicide in the UK.
I am delighted to invite you to our next online meeting on the 15th July at 5pm. This is an unmissable event and first of its kind, which will be of interest to parliamentarians with a range of expertise. Especially those with interests in science and technology, medical innovation, mechanical engineering, human ethics and philosophy.
Three presenters, all of whom are disabled, will consider Baroness Meacher’s Assisted Dying Private Members Bill from very different perspectives and viewpoints. Each presenter will test the arguments for a change in the current law and whether the proposed legislation stands up to rigorous public safety standards.
Dr Peter Scott Morgan
http://www.scott-morgan.com/blog/right-to-thrive/faqs-about-right-to-thrive/. Peter is the world’s leading robotics and AI scientist who was diagnosed with the severest form of MND ALS and given 2 years to live. 4 years later, Peter will show-case his new inventions and solutions which challenge commonly held beliefs regarding terminal Illness. Amongst them he will demonstrate a sophisticated avatar, which has given him his voice and expression back, having lost this capability a year ago when he became motionless as a result of MND. His work is gaining great traction globally as a result of his recent book, documentary and 2020 launch of the Scott Morgan Foundation: https://www.scottmorganfoundation.org/our-story.
Dr Mario Griffiths https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miro_Griffiths. Miro is a Leverhulme Research Fellow at the University of Leeds, who has published on disability policy and politics, and is invited regularly to comment on current social issues. He is a member of the Disability Advisory Committee at the Equality and Human Rights Commission, and advises the UK Department of Health and Social Care on improving disabled people’s access to health and social care provision. He is a former strategic and confidential adviser to the UK Government and European Commission. Miro has Spinal Muscular Atrophy, which is a progressive condition that causes muscle strength deterioration throughout the body.
Philip Friend OBE Hon DSc
https://philfriend.co.uk/. Phil contracted polio as a child and is a wheelchair user. He is acknowledged as one of the UK’s foremost consultant on disability matters. He has worked on disability and diversity projects in Estonia, Romania, Poland, Germany, Canada and the USA. He was awarded an OBE in 2001 for services to equal opportunities and disabled people and made an honorary Doctor of Science (Hon DSc) in 2009 in recognition of his outstanding contribution to equality and diversity from University of Hertfordshire. He is the current chair of the Research Institute for Disabled Consumers and Vice Chair of the Activity Alliance.
Baroness Campbell of Surbiton http://baronesscampbellofsurbiton.uk/. Baroness Campbell of Surbiton is a Cross Bench Peer and Founder of Not Dead Yet UK (NDYUK) www.notdeadyetuk.org. NDYUK is the leading organization of disabled people and those with a diagnosed progressive and terminal medical conditions campaigning against a change in the law on Assisted Suicide.
Please email sophiej.clarke@parliament.uk and you will be sent joining instructions for the meeting.
Yours,
Danny Kruger MP