Assisted dying safeguards not weakened by removing judges, MP says
Batley and Spen MP Kim Leadbeather has said proposed changes to the assisted dying bill will provide a greater role for psychiatrists and social workers and make the process safer, despite opponents saying removing the role of High Court judges would ‘water down’ safeguards.
Ms Leadbeater is expected to bring forward amendments for a so-called “judge plus” system, after hearing concerns during expert evidence sessions last month.
Under the proposals, psychiatrists and social workers would be involved in approving assisted dying applications.
But opponents of the bill said the new proposals weaken safeguards, and could lead to applications for assisted dying being held in private.
Ms Leadbeater denied this would be the case, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It wouldn’t be done in private, it would be taking into account patient confidentiality, but there would be public proceedings.
“And, actually, I think it’s really difficult to suggest that by having three experts involved in this extra layer of scrutiny that is somehow a change for the worse.”
York Central MP Rachael Maskell voted against the bill last year, and told The Yorkshire Post yesterday the proposed changes “water down the bill and diminish the legislation considerably”.
“The bill is being torn apart and rewritten mid-process,” she said.
“It’s so poorly written with more than 300 amendments. This isn’t a good look.”
Ms Maskell, who has been an MP for almost 10 years, said she had not heard of such a significant change being made at the stage of a private member’s bill.
And she said she thought Labour MPs who initially supported assisted dying at its second reading, could vote it down in future.
“I know for Labour MPs this was a game changer for them, knowing there would be that external independent scrutiny of such high office.,” Ms Maskell said.
“We were told that this was the cornerstone of the bill, it was to provide the safeguards - the judicial underpinning was very important. It was why so many people supported the bill.”
However, other MPs told The Yorkshire Post that they remained supportive of the bill, despite Ms Leadbeater’s changes.
Ms Leadbeater had previously said the High Court approval element made her legislation the strictest in the world.
She has now proposed a judge-led Voluntary Assisted Dying Commission that she said would give a greater role to experts, including psychiatrists and social workers, in overseeing applications.
The commission would be led by a High Court judge or a former senior judge and receive all applications and reports from two independent doctors, which would then be referred to a three-member panel chaired by what has been described as a senior legal figure.
Experts would face a “very strict recruitment procedure” to sit on the panel, Ms Leadbeater told the BBC.
They would examine “the two key issues that keep coming up in this debate, the issue of assessing capacity and the issue of checking for coercion”, the MP said.