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A bill to legalise assisted dying for some terminally ill adults is the “safest choice” and the “strictest” in the world, the MP behind the new law has claimed as it is set to be published.
Mentally competent adults with a life expectancy of six months or less who have a settled wish to die that has been approved by two doctors and the High Court would be able to do so under the proposed legislation for England and Wales.
Ahead of its publication on Tuesday, Labour MP Kim Leadbeater insisted her private member’s bill would make it illegal for someone to persuade a person through dishonesty, coercion or pressure to declare they wanted to end their life or to induce someone to self-administer drugs to die. Anyone found guilty of doing so would face a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.
Critics argue the controversial Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which is likely to run to more than 40 pages, is being “rushed with indecent haste” and that MPs will not have adequate time to scrutinise it before the 29 November debate.
The legislation says two independent doctors must be satisfied that the person is eligible, but no doctors will be obliged to take part in the process.
The High Court would also be involved, with a judge required to hear from at least one of the doctors and able to question the dying person if appropriate.
Terminally ill people who have been resident in England and Wales for at least 12 months would have to take the prescribed medication themselves.
Health secretary Wes Streeting has already said he intends to vote against the bill, voicing his fears about coercion and people feeling a “duty to die”.
Meanwhile, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby – who is currently facing mounting calls to resign over a sexual abuse scandal – has warned of legalisation leading to a “slippery slope” in terms of who is eligible.
High-profile supporters of a change in the law include Dame Esther Rantzen, who is terminally ill and revealed in December that she had joined Dignitas due to the current law.
Ms Leadbeater said she has “consulted widely” on the Bill, speaking with medical and legal experts, those in the palliative care and hospice sectors, disability rights activists, faith leaders and “many, many people with their own personal experience of why the current law is not fit for purpose”.
She said she had a responsibility to put before MPs “the best possible legislation and I believe I have done that”.
She added: “It has been nearly a decade since the Commons last voted on the issue and it could easily be as long before they get another opportunity, so I was determined to get this right.”
She said MPs have “almost three weeks to look closely at this Bill before the debate” and she is “ready and willing to answer any questions they may have, because I don’t underestimate the seriousness of the issue”.
She added: “For my part, I have looked closely at the evidence from other jurisdictions and I believe this Bill not only offers protections to people nearing the end of their lives that they don’t have at present, but also provides for the strictest safeguards anywhere in the world.
“I believe it is our duty as parliamentarians to give these proposals careful scrutiny and I hope MPs will agree with me that we can offer the safest choice to those who want it at the end of their lives, while at the same time working to make our already excellent palliative care provision even better and protecting the rights of people with disabilities, mental illness and other challenges to have all the support and care they need throughout their lives.”
Right To Life UK branded the proposed legislation “a disaster in waiting”.
Spokeswoman Catherine Robinson said: “It’s outrageous that MPs and the wider public are only seeing this Bill two weeks before it goes to a vote. What is being proposed is a monumental change to our laws, and it’s totally unjustifiable and fundamentally undemocratic to try and rush it through without proper public scrutiny.”
Campaign group Our Duty of Care, representing doctors and nurses, has sent a letter to the Prime Minister arguing that “any change (to the current law) would threaten society’s ability to safeguard vulnerable patients from abuse; it would undermine the trust the public places in physicians; and it would send a clear message to our frail, elderly and disabled patients about the value that society places on them as people”.
The group said it is “impossible for any government to draft assisted suicide laws which include protection from coercion and future expansion”.
