A historic week for choice at the end of life
In March, the Isle of Man led the charge and legalised assisted dying. It is now time for the rest of the British Isles to join the growing worldwide movement for dying people to have the right to make decisions about their own death. With crucial debates in Westminster and Holyrood this week, here’s my analysis of what’s next for both.
In Westminster, Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill has emerged from the intensive seven week scrutiny of a Public Bill Committee, with 60 expert witnesses, 90 hours of debate and 600 amendments considered. About 150 amendments were voted through, put forward both by MPs who support the principle of assisted dying, and those who don’t, and a new version of the Bill was published on 28 March, strengthened and with the oversight of Government lawyers. It will now be debated by the whole House of Commons at the key Report Stage this Friday, 16 May, with a further opportunity for amendments, and then again at Third Reading in June, when the Commons will vote on the Bill before it can move to the House of Lords.
As with all legislation, the Government has prepared a comprehensive financial and equality impact assessment. Launched just over a week ago, its findings further promote the case for law reform on assisted dying. Many of the criticisms of Kim’s Bill, which have been levelled by those who fundamentally oppose choice at the end of life, were addressed and quashed in the impact assessment. It confirmed the Bill is compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and that it’s stronger than other jurisdictions’ laws in terms of oversight, regulation, protections and safeguards. The message from the impact assessment is that Kim’s Bill is safe and workable.
My message is that it’s time to invest in real, compassionate choice at the end of life, and it’s time to invest in safeguards. Almost 300 million people across the world have access to some form of choice in how they die, in their home country, and it would be unthinkable for Parliament to decide that dying Britons should have this choice, but that choice isn’t worth investing in and getting right.
The current blanket ban offers no protections, no oversight, and no support for dying people in desperate situations.
Under the current law, dying people are forced to endure unbearable pain, to travel to die alone overseas, or to take matters into their own hands. None of these desperate options comes without human cost, which is too high a price to continue to pay, not least given the inherent lack of oversight in the status quo.
In Scotland, the process for private members’ bills is slightly different. In Holyrood, the Health Committee has already considered Liam McArthur’s Bill and last Wednesday it published its report. The Committee chose not to recommend either in favour or against the legalisation of assisted dying, but did confirm that MSPs should have a free vote on the issue. The first Stage 1 vote will take place this Tuesday, 13th May, and if successful, will be the most significant step forward for a Bill on this issue ever in the Scottish Parliament.
So, we have arrived at a historic week, in no small part thanks to the people-powered movement for choice; the public who overwhelmingly support choice, dying people who don’t want to suffer unbearably and against their wishes, and bereaved families whose tireless advocacy powers Dignity in Dying’s campaign.
If Liam McArthur’s Bill is successful on Tuesday it would put Scotland on the path to law change. And on Friday, having already made more progress than any other assisted dying Private Member’s Bill in Westminster, Kim Leadbeater’s Bill will enter the penultimate Commons stage before the Lords.
For too long dying Britons have not been at the centre of choices about how they die. It’s time that they were permitted to be the authors of their own, inevitable, end.