Assisted dying: MPs say bill will bring 'order, regulation and safety to Wild West'

Campaigners have said that Kim Leadbeater’s bill to legalise assisted dying will bring “order, regulation and safety to what is currently the Wild West”.

Ms Leadbeater, the Labour MP for Spen Valley in West Yorkshire, has described the proposed legislation as the “most robust” in the world.

Only terminally ill adults with less than six months to live who have a settled wish to end their lives would be eligible under the new law.

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It has “three layers of scrutiny”, according to Ms Leadbeater, in the form of a sign-off by two doctors and a hearing in front of a High Court judge.

The patient would have to be confirmed by the trio as mentally sound.

It would also make coercion an offence with a possible punishment of 14 years in jail.

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater joins terminally ill advocates, bereaved families, and campaigners for a photocall outside the House of Parliament, London, ahead of the introduction the Private Member's Bill for choice at the end of life in the Commons next week. Picture date: Wednesday October 9, 2024. PA Photo.Labour MP Kim Leadbeater joins terminally ill advocates, bereaved families, and campaigners for a photocall outside the House of Parliament, London, ahead of the introduction the Private Member's Bill for choice at the end of life in the Commons next week. Picture date: Wednesday October 9, 2024. PA Photo.
Labour MP Kim Leadbeater joins terminally ill advocates, bereaved families, and campaigners for a photocall outside the House of Parliament, London, ahead of the introduction the Private Member's Bill for choice at the end of life in the Commons next week. Picture date: Wednesday October 9, 2024. PA Photo.

Ms Leadbeater said she expected hundreds rather than thousands to apply to use such a service, as under the bill patients would be required to self-administer the drugs to end their lives.

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The Bill has safeguards “all over it” and is a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Parliament” to change what is currently a “pitiful situation” with the current law, the 1961 Suicide Act, former director of public prosecutions Sir Max Hill said.

He said the status quo is a two-tier system where the wealthy can travel to Dignitas in Switzerland while others have to consider assisting their loved ones to die and facing possible prosecution as a result.

Sir Max said he believes there is “an unanswerable argument that the law at the moment provides no safeguards, no rails, no guidance and leaves the vulnerable in a pitiful situation”.

Fellow advocate, Tory MP Kit Malthouse, said the bill would bring “order, regulation and safety to what is currently the Wild West”, while Ms Leadbeater added that the “law is not fit for purpose”.

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The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill will be debated and likely voted on on November 29, the first Commons vote on assisted dying since 2015.

Opposition campaigners have raised fears of coercion and a slippery slope to wider legislation taking in more people.

One Labour MP told The Yorkshire Post: “The thought that this provides additional safeguards is not true.

“It will drain significant resources and result in doctors needing to opt out, with those who participate needing to prognosticate in an area where they may have no clinical speciality.”

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Both the Health Secretary Wes Streeting and the Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who would be tasked with implementing the law, have said they are against the bill.

Dr Sam Royston, the charity’s executive director of policy and research, explained: “At a time when our politicians are debating whether or not to legalise assisted dying, surely they will also want to ensure no-one would feel any pressure to choose an assisted death simply because they cannot afford the bare essentials of a decent standard of living.”

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