UK law is currently failing people who are terminally ill and must be changed to give people autonomy and allow “dignity in their dying days,” the Labour MP Kim Leadbeater has said.
Speaking to The BMJ, the MP for Spen Valley said that talking to people who were terminally ill and people whose loved ones had taken their own lives “out of desperation and fear” had shown her how bad the current situation was. She also spoke about concerns over the potential misuse of an assisted dying service that were raised in the first House of Lords debate last week.1
While “very confident” in the safeguards already included in the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, Leadbeater was open to suggestions from the Lords on ways to improve it. She added that doctors must be protected and should not be penalised for their decision to participate, or not, in assisted dying.
Leadbeater put forward the private member’s bill on assisted dying last year. In June this year MPs passed the bill, with 314 members voting in favour and 291 voting against.2 This Friday (19 September) it will face a second debate in the House of Lords. The bill will then pass to the Lords committee stage before a third reading. Finally, it will return to the House of Commons, where MPs will examine any changes. If passed into law its implementation could take four years.
The bill will legalise the right for terminally ill people in England and Wales to end their own life with medical assistance. As the bill stands, a person’s application would need to be supported by two doctors and approved by a panel consisting of a senior lawyer, a psychiatrist, and a social worker.
Leadbeater told The BMJ that she felt compelled …
