Yesterday, My Death, My Decision and Humanists UK co-hosted an event in the House of Lords to support the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill ahead of Second Reading on 12 September.
The event brought together cross-party Peers, MPs, campaigners, and international experts to highlight the urgency of legal change. Speakers challenged common misconceptions and emphasised that assisted dying is rooted in values of compassion, autonomy, and dignity.
Kim Leadbeater MP, sponsor of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill Committee, said:
‘It’s deeply traumatic and painful for those families who either have to wave their loved ones off in the back of a taxi, and they have to find significant amounts of money as well, or they take that journey with their loved ones, and they face a fear of prosecution, which terrifies them. The police have a duty to knock on their door and say, “I’m really sorry, but we have to do this”, and that takes months. So on top of grief, loss, bereavement and pain, they have a criminal investigation, and it just cannot be right.’
‘We have a duty to get this Bill through parliament and royal assent as soon as possible, so that we can replace the stories of trauma, loss and agony with stories of compassion, autonomy and dignity.’
Rachel Hopkins MP, member of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill Committee, explained to the Lords that while door-knocking in her constituency, she chanced upon the daughter of Diane Pretty, who took her case to the High Court for the right to die. She said:
‘[Diane’s daughter said] “I just wanted to say thank you, because I saw what my mother went through and she couldn’t have an assisted death. At first, I didn’t want it to happen but because I saw the pain and suffering my mother went through, I felt things needed to change.’
Tom Gordon MP, member of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill Committee, said his advice to Members of the House of Lords was:
‘A lot of the arguments put to us about this Bill are based on hypotheticals. We must keep bringing it back to real people who are suffering right now, who don’t have that choice, the families who were forced to not be able to be with their loved ones when they access this overseas.’
Silvan Luley, board member of DIGNITAS, the Swiss assisted dying centre, said:
‘Assisted dying is not about ending lives. In fact, it’s about saving lives, and it’s about improving health, and it’s improving the quality of life of a person at a time when they suffer grievously.’
‘Good health care means taking seriously people’s wishes in regard to how and when they wish to go out in their life. People deserve respect, care, compassion and legal options, being met at eye level, not belittling them as vulnerable, not labelling them as potentially incompetent.’
Dr Julian Huppert, former MP whose mother had an assisted death in Australia, said:
‘She looked at the doctor and the nurse and said: “Thank you for how much you have helped me”. And then they gave her the injection, and she first fell asleep, and then death followed.
It was the best death that mum could possibly have.’
Notes:
For further comment or information, media should contact Campaigns Manager Nathan Stilwell at nathan.stilwell@mydeath-mydecision.org.uk or phone 07456 200033. (Media only)
My Death, My Decision has people and their loved ones who would be affected by this change available for the press.
Humanists defend the right of each individual to live by their own personal values, and the freedom to make decisions about their own life so long as this does not result in harm to others. Humanists do not share the attitudes to death and dying held by some religious believers, in particular that the manner and time of death are for a deity to decide, and that interference in the course of nature is unacceptable. We firmly uphold the right to life but we recognise that this right carries with it the right of each individual to make their own judgement about whether their life should be prolonged in the face of pointless suffering.
We recognise that any assisted dying law must contain strong safeguards and the international evidence from countries where assisted dying is legal shows that safeguards can be effective. We also believe that the choice of assisted dying should not be considered an alternative to palliative care, but should be offered together as in many other countries.
My Death, My Decision is a grassroots campaign group that wants the law in England and Wales to allow mentally competent adults who are terminally ill or intolerably suffering from an incurable condition the option of a legal, safe, and compassionate assisted death. With the support of over 3,000 members and supporters, we advocate for an evidence-based law that would balance individual choice alongside robust safeguards and finally give the people of England and Wales choice at the end of their lives.
Humanists UK and My Death, My Decision are both members of the Assisted Dying Coalition, along with Friends at the End, Humanist Society Scotland, and End of Life Choices Jersey.
