The Residence of Lords is debating, on Friday, a question the answer to which has an effect on every man or woman in the land – must we permit medical professionals to aid and abet the suicides of some of their patients? Because this is what Lord Falconer’s Private Member’s Bill quantities to.
Lord Falconer seems to be below the misapprehension that his Bill has the backing of the Supreme Court. The Court has surely known as for Parliament to take into account whether or not the law must be altered. But, insofar as it has ventured into the dangerous territory of how it may possibly be altered, its pondering seems to be far eliminated from what Lord Falconer’s Bill is proposing.
In his judgment 3 weeks in the past the President of the Court speculated – no a lot more than that – that the balance among providing some individuals the selection of assisted suicide and guarding other people from harm as a result may perhaps be accomplished if (and allow us quote him verbatim) “no support could be given to a particular person who wishes to die except if and right up until a Judge of the Substantial Court has been content that his wish to do so was voluntary, clear, settled and informed”.
My own examination of Lord Falconer’s Bill demonstrates it to be deeply flawed. Its so-known as safeguards are feeble: they are similar to placing up a discover not to go close to the edge of a cliff but not placing a railing there to stop men and women falling above. It defines terminal illness in this kind of a way as to carry huge numbers of people with chronic illnesses and disabilities within its ambit. It has no compliance system. I could go on and on. But, given that the Supreme Court has known as on Parliament to deal with this query and as Lord Falconer’s Bill is on the table, we need to give it our complete consideration.
In this procedure I hope the House of Lords will devote rather significantly less time focusing on philosophical rules, like autonomy, and far more on the challenging practicalities of life that numerous of us face in our every day lives. It is all very effectively for a minority of sturdy-willed and self-assured individuals to assert that they want for themselves what they call (incorrectly, as it presently exists) a “proper to die”. I am far more concerned with the plight of the underdog – of significantly ill and disabled folks who are struggling to cope with existence amid poor social care, inadequate housing and loneliness (that growing ailment of our society) and who do not want to die – but who could all as well easily locate themselves drawn into ending their lives out of depression or despair.
Choice is a wonderful issue but it has to be true choice, and many folks just do not have that. As peers we are used to taking decisions for ourselves, we know how the law operates and we are normally capable to look after our personal interests with no difficulty. But we must remember nowadays that many people’s encounter of lifestyle, specifically the sick and the disabled, is much less about undertaking and far more about becoming completed to. These are the men and women who want our help and safety.
Patronising, some might say. But as legislators we have a duty to ensure that any laws we make do not expose other men and women to harm. That is what leads to me to fret about the notion of supplying help with suicide inside the NHS.
Baroness Grey-Thompson is a crossbench peer
Assisted dying: this Bill has so numerous flaws I will not know the place to start off
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