1 week Ago By Sarah Wootton - Dignity in Dying chief executive
Kim Leadbeater MP’s Bill is about addressing the complete failure of the ban on assisted dying to offer any meaningful choice or protection to dying people. Right now, terminally ill British citizens are taking their own lives, frightened and alone, or seeking compassion in Switzerland, if they can afford it, which few can. No safety measures currently exist to ensure those people are aware of other options open to them, or that they are not being pressured.
This Bill, based on best practice from assisted dying laws around the world and drawing from the many years of previous debate in Westminster, is the most robust proposal ever put forward in this country. It will introduce scrutiny, regulation and protection where there is none, as well as much-needed choice and compassion for those who need it as they die. Doctors already routinely assess for coercion in a whole host of decisions patients can make at the moment, including to stop life-prolonging treatment or to refuse food and water to hasten their death.
This is normal practice within the NHS everyday. This Bill will increase safety measures to protect against undue pressure, making assisted dying the most regulated end of life practice. Two independent doctors and a High Court judge must examine each and every request, any doubts would be investigated and the request can go no further.
The Bill creates a new offence of coercion with a maximum sentence of 14 years; a serious deterrent. Furthermore, experience from around the world where assisted dying is available to terminally ill people shows there is no evidence of coercion. If anything it exists the other way, with families pleading with loved ones to hang on for just a few more weeks or months, even in the face of unbearable pain.
The Bill is absolutely clear that only dying people would be able to request this; a group who will already be receiving care from NHS and hospice services. This is not a new cohort of people suddenly requiring resource. Financial analysis of a similar bill being considered in Scotland also found that legalising assisted dying would effectively be cost-neutral.
Blocking this Bill will not stop suffering, nor will it fix the problems within our healthcare system, but it will prevent a full, constructive and comprehensive debate from taking place. The cross-party Health Select Committee inquiry into assisted dying examined this issue for 14 months and recognised that giving people this choice does not harm palliative care, in fact it is often a catalyst for greater funding for end of life services and for improved conversations around death and dying. There is widespread acceptance that the status quo is not working.
The public can see that, and if MPs agree they must back this Bill at Second Reading on the 29 th and grasp the opportunity to bring about real and much-needed change..
