Kim Leadbeater’s ‘dangerous’ assisted suicide Bill should not become law, Labour MP Diane Abbott and Conservative MP Sir Edward Leigh have said in a joint statement.
The Mother and Father of the House, with 78 years of combined parliamentary experience, said it would be unsafe for MPs to endorse such a “flawed” and “rushed” piece of legislation.
Due to be debated at the end of this month, the backbench MP’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill would allow those deemed to be terminally ill and with less than six months to live to receive help to kill themselves.
Rushed
Writing from opposite benches, the veteran parliamentarians said that as the current Bill concerns a “once-in-a-generation social change”, it should be afforded “the utmost care” in its passage through the Commons.
But they noted that MPs had only received Leadbeater’s proposals 18 days ahead of its second reading. The “inadequacy” of the timescale, they added, “is heightened by the unprecedented number of new MPs”.
Consequently, Abbott and Leigh argued, the parliamentary process “has been lamentable and wholly unacceptable for a matter of such importance”.
Flawed
They also expressed concern “about how the new legislation would be implemented in practice, particularly as regards to vulnerable groups”.
Highlighting use of high-profile celebrities by “organisations campaigning for a change in the law”, they said: “MPs must make laws based on their effect on every member of society, not just those whose profile gives them a prominent voice”.
As evidence from elsewhere suggests “those most at risk when assisted suicide is legalised are vulnerable minorities”, the parliamentarians argued that “the only adequate safeguard is to keep the current law unchanged”.
The Mother and Father of the House concluded: “Meanwhile, we should be investing instead in improving our health and social care system generally. And if there is one thing this debate has shone a light on, it is the urgent need to increase investment in palliative care.”
Dangers
In a candid interview with The Independent, celebrated Paralympian Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson warned that the controversial legislation opened up the way for “doctor shopping”.
She explained: “The first doctor can refer you to the second one, but then, if they don’t approve one, they can carry on until they find one that is willing.”
Lady Grey-Thompson said the Bill risked being extended over time to include people with depression, eating disorders and disabilities. Reflecting on her own situation, she said: “If I got a pressure sore and it didn’t heal, I could very easily fit into the six-month diagnosis.”
She also feared that allowing ‘proxy signatures’ to request assisted suicide would be open to abuse. She added: “I’d be really worried about someone signing the form on my behalf [because of] the work I’ve done around coercive control in a domestic setting”.
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