Stratford MP Manuela Perteghella was among those voting yes to the assisted dying bill, but what did others think?
Assisted dying took one step closer to becoming a reality in England and Wales after MPs voted in favour of Kim Leadbeater’s bill put to the House of Commons last Friday.
Stratford MP Manuela Perteghella was among the 330 ‘yes’ votes that won over the 275 against the bill.
Several stages remain before the bill becomes law, and a number of MPs indicated they could still vote against it if safeguards in the legislation were not strengthened.
The bill will now go before a committee of MPs who will carry out line-by-line scrutiny of the legislation and can propose amendments.
Ms Leadbeater, as the bill’s proposer, will be responsible for choosing the make-up of the committee, but has indicated that she will seek to reflect the range of views expressed in Friday’s debate.
Following debate in committee, MPs will have another opportunity to vote on the legislation. If it passes, it will then be debated by the House of Lords, where it will follow the same procedure.
If it does pass into law it would allow people with a diagnosis of a fatal condition that will kill them within six months to seek medical assistance to die. Their request would have to be approved by two doctors and a high court judge, and the person themselves would have to administer the fatal dose.
Dr Perteghella told the Herald that she was keen to follow further the debate and scrutiny of the safeguards, and said: “I received hundreds of emails and letters and I want to thank everyone who contacted me and those I met who explained with passion why they supported or opposed the bill.
“This bill is about giving choice to those who are dying. Equally important is the call to ensure our wonderful hospices are properly funded so they can continue to give the best palliative care.”
About 300,000 people were cared for in the country’s 200-plus hospices in 2022-23, according to Hospice UK.
They cost £1.6bn a year to run, with only £500m coming from the government. The remaining £1.1bn is raised through donations, legacies, charity shops and other fundraising activities.
Hospices in the Stratford district welcomed the spotlight the bill put on their services – and their precarious finances – while remaining neutral on the subject of assisted dying
Ruth Freeman, CEO at Myton Hospices, said: “We welcome the spotlight that the assisted dying debate has shone on palliative and end of life care in the UK and would say it’s about time.
“Assisted dying is not the only option to preventing people dying in pain – hospices across the UK have been helping terminally ill patients to control their pain and providing excellent end of life care tor decades but despite a number of governments and prime ministers appearing to recognise the value of hospice care there has been a woeful lack of response to what has now become a crisis.
“Across the UK hospices have empty beds and are reducing their at home services because of a lack of funding and quite frankly we think this is totally unacceptable not to say unethical.”
At present, laws throughout the UK prevent people from receiving medical help to die. Those who assist someone to end their life face up to 14 years in prison.
Assisted dying for terminally ill people is legal in several countries, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and three states in the US: California, Oregon and Washington.
In addition Switzerland has allowed assisted suicide as long as the motives are not selfish since 1942.
It is where the Dignitas clinic is based, a non-profit organisation run by independent Swiss doctors who offer assisted suicide for around £10,000.
UK membership of Dignitas jumped to 1,900 people in 2023, according to the organisation. That is a 24 per cent rise on the previous year. It said 40 people from the UK ended their lives at Dignitas in 2023, the highest level since 2019.
Dr Cristina Ramos, Rother House Medical Centre
THE Terminally Ill Adults (end of life) Bill is a bill to allow adults who are terminally ill, subject to safeguards and protections, to request and be provided with assistance to end their own life. This bill was always going to stimulate a significant amount of dialogue and extreme views on the rights and wrongs of supporting someone to make a decision about ending their life.
This bill is fundamentally about providing patients with choice.
Anyone who becomes unwell with a serious, life-limiting condition loses a level of independence and autonomy and becomes increasingly reliant on others for advice, support and care. When it goes well, patients and their relatives or carers are involved in the decision making process working through management options and supporting treatment choices.
Currently, there is no ability to make an active choice about ending life. There are options available for patients abroad but these tend to be costly and not routinely available.
This bill aims to provide choice for individuals who are terminally ill, within the last six months of life, to be able to actively choose when they die. This doesn’t mean that everyone will need to make this choice but for some, having the opportunity to make the decision is vitally important.
The proposed bill has significant safeguards that limit the potential for abuse and protects patients.
It is important that the aims of this bill and the ambition to provide patients with choice does not take away from the significant requirement to provide excellent palliative care. This will continue to be the mainstay of support for patients with life-limiting conditions and we need to ensure that there is ongoing investment and focus on the scope and quality of the palliative care we provide.
The right to choice is something we should all support. People who are at the end of their life will often feel they are passengers with very little control of what happens next in their journey. This bill will hopefully provide the support that patients require to make an informed choice that enables them to feel they have control right to the end.
