Choice or coercion? Yorkshire MPs are split ahead of the controversial assisted dying vote

One of the reasons I am a Liberal Democrat is about giving people that choice. Even if you don’t want to use that choice, then other people should still have access to it.

My background is in public health, I know residents and constituents who have had family members who have really suffered at the end of life who would like that option.

We know from other other countries where they have that choice from assisted dying, not everyone uses it but they find comfort from knowing that they’ve got that option.

Everything has been well thought through and there will be regulation that will go alongside all the other aspects of this bill. If it was to pass it would be the most tightly written assisted dying law of any country in the world.

I’m cautiously optimistic, I would like to think this is the time that we will see that change. With other countries that already have it, we are lagging behind.

It’s disappointing to see people, like the Secretary of State for Health Wes Streeting, come out and talk about reasons why we shouldn’t have it.

I think people who are in those positions of power, there’s a difference between exercising your voice to your own personal view and exercising your voice in that position of authority and power.

I don’t think comments from people who are in, whether it be religious bodies or whether it be in government offices, are necessarily helpful.

I find it really rich for Wes [Streeting] to be talking about [issues with palliative care] when we’ve just had a Budget where there was little to no funding for social care.

So already, this government isn’t trying to give people dignity in later life, so to rob people of dignity in their dying moments is a bit of a double whammy really.

We’re going to say we’re not going to give you a good standard of care because the funding is not there for adult social care, and then we’re also not going to let you make your own choice. I’m quite critical of it, as you’ve probably gathered from that.

Against - Rachael Maskell, York Central

One of my biggest concerns is that individuals themselves with the best of meanings say: “I don’t want to be a burden on my family.”

They might think: “I’ve got money, social care costs a lot of money, it’s better off with the children or even the grandchildren.”

They can easily find themselves, if the mind of the country was to change, moving down the path of assisted dying, even though it might not be their prime preference if they were out of that environment.

There’s a significant risk, and there’s nothing in the bill to prevent that. I think the thing that shocked me more than anything was that a doctor, written into the legislation, could raise with a patient to see if they’ve considered an assisted death. 

Now that changes medicine completely if you think about the level of implied trust in physicians, and then for them to make that suggestion. It changes everything. 

If they suddenly said ‘have you considered an assisted death’, it really does devalue a life.  What’s the unconscious bias behind that - there’s no scrutiny of that in the legislation. 

We were told it has the greatest safeguards in the world, yet I’ve gone through it and it’s a tickbox form. I think it’s almost like window dressing, they’re almost gas lighting the nation.

I just think the whole thing is completely unsafe when you dig into the detail of it.

Undecided - Anna Dixon, Shipley

My main question about legalising assisted dying in the current context is because, from my work, I know there are huge inequalities in who gets access to palliative care.

You hear many stories of people who are unnecessarily dying in pain because they are not getting access to end-of-life care.

Hospice UK estimates that around 100,000 die each year needing palliative care but not receiving it.

We have a big problem in this country that we are underresourced. Much of our hospice care in this country is charitably funded, so there isn’t the guarantee there.

We know those inequalities in access to palliative care exist, if you are poor or black you are much less likely to get it.

I cannot see that it is a fair choice for people, choosing between a painful death because they don’t have access to palliative care and assisted dying.

My worry is that people will effectively be forced to choose assisted dying because of a lack of access to palliative care.