Assisted suicide debate exposes problems with proposed law

Peers who oppose medically assisted suicide have countered claims that they are trying to “filibuster” or run out the clock on the controversial measure.

During a debate within the Lords on Friday, former Paralympic champion, Baroness Grey-Thompson, an opponent of the bill, said that alleged blocking manoeuvres were actually indicative of the failure of the bill’s supporters to offer clear answers to valid concerns.

She spoke of “the sense of frustration that we are usually not getting answers to the amendments we’re tabling in good faith. I hope that the noble and learned Lord [Falconer] will give you the option to reply these questions, in order that we will move with a bit more pace”.

The debate then moved on to among the provisions and proposed amendments to the bill.

First amongst them was a proposal that those looking for to finish their very own lives should first have an in-person assessment with a medical skilled as a safeguard against coercion.

Lord Empey, of the Ulster Unionists warned, “I find it exceptionally objectionable that, for anyone in those conditions, the state could effectively provide a service to help them to kill themselves over the phone.

“That is what we’re talking about here. It is conceivable, I suppose, that there could possibly be special circumstances for attempting to assess people remotely but, as with the whole lot else on this bill, if we had worked this thing out properly, we’d have covered loads of this. I believe this a part of the bill is fundamentally unsafe.”

The debate also checked out questions across the definition of terminal illness, how someone who dies by medically assisted suicide would have their reason behind death recorded, and what support can be in place for those looking for assisted suicide.

In particular, concerns were raised a few proposal to permit those with “injuries” to finish their very own lives by assisted suicide. Opponents of the bill identified that by allowing those with injuries to finish their lives, the bill would open the door to military veterans to finish their very own lives and that there was a major possibility that the courts would over time expand the definition of who could qualify for assisted suicide.