Frankie Gerard

Excellent hopefully they’ll have sorted out the NHS and the struggling Court system by then too!

With my d's anorexia we experienced an underresourced system trivialising serious illness: from "just eat" to "not sick enough", depriving us of vital care. We'd the resources & luck to buy our way out. So many don't with many designated as "terminal" & some already allowed by Drs & Courts to die.

Layla Moran on Radio 4 today said she voted for the "principle" of assisted dying. But the vote was on a specific Bill in the context of a failing NHS and struggling court systems. Maybe that's why concerns raised were brushed aside on the assumption that they can somehow be resolved down the line.

Yes, and not just palliative care - also difficult treatable illnesses like anorexia where sufferers currently are being classified as “terminal” in a system not equipped to give them the care they need to recover.

Are you covering the assisted dying bill and the potential impact on mental health sufferers? long term anorexia sufferers let down by inadequate care are now being placed on “palliative” pathways. Anorexia is a curable disease.

Good luck Karen for today.

Fingers cross for you Karen. Surely an ED unit must know how to deal with an NG tube? Hang in there.

At least they have the wherewithal to realise that the current NHS rationing of eating disorder care means those that can turn to their health insurance to cover the costs.

There are many problems in the system but I wonder if at its heart is the lingering mistaken belief that a choice is made: a response to trauma or a decision to be thin. And in deciding to be ill sufferers are then in the depths of illness required to decide to get better. It’s down to them.

It must be v hard to speak in that context and with so little support in the room. Thank you for putting yourself out there and doing it with both deep knowledge and good grace. It’s easy to belittle individual stories. You go beyond the individual with your years of experience and research.