The Assisted Dying Bill

Bobby Dean MP shares his views on Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, commonly known as the Assited Dying Bill.

At the Second Reading, I voted in favour of the bill.  

This is a highly sensitive topic and one that I have spent a lot of time deliberating. Now that we are proceeding to more detailed scrutiny, I am committed to continue listening and making my final decision after paying close attention to further debate.

My current position is that I believe the bill has the right safeguards in place and so terminally ill, mentally competent adults should have the right to assisted death.

People have outlined concerns about the state of palliative care. I agree that we need to do much more to improve the end-of-life experience and that both hospices and at-home care require urgent investment. I will fight for this regardless of what happens with this bill.

Even the best palliative care, though, cannot alleviate all suffering. It is for those rare cases that I believe we should be providing choice at the end of life. Without that choice, some are already taking matters into their own hands either by travelling overseas to access facilities like Dignitas or taking their lives in more dangerous ways.

This point is particularly important to me. The status quo is the absence of regulation and this has too often resulted in suffering and indignity at the end of life.  

I believe the safeguards proposed in this bill are tight. The bill is requires an individual to have a voluntary, clear, settled and informed wish to end their own life. In other words, this cannot be a fleeting decision, and they must have the mental capacity to make it.

They must also make the decision free of coercion. The bill addresses this point by making it a criminal offense, punishable by 14 years in prison, to coerce someone into assisted dying. This treats coercion as seriously as murder, ensuring that anyone considering using the law in this abhorrent way would be strongly deterred.

Terminal illness is also tightly defined. Individuals must have an inevitably progressive condition which cannot be reversed by treatment and have less than six months to live. You are not considered terminally ill merely for having a mental illness or disability.

The final safeguard relates to signing off the decision. A doctor must sign a declaration. This must be countersigned by another independent doctor through an entirely separate examination. A non-medical judge will also be required to make the final declaration via the High Court.

Before I close, let me address the concern about safeguards slipping. In our country, Parliament is sovereign and so what provisions we settle on in the House will be those that have to be abided by. There can be no updates or amendments to the legislation without again returning to the House. If a loosening of these safeguards were to be proposed in the future, I believe many that are currently minded support assisted dying would withdraw their support.

I hope that, even if you disagree with my position, that you can appreciate my honesty and see that I am paying attention to arguments on all sides. I will continue to do so.