Jersey

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Sir Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour Party, has said MPs should be allowed to vote on assisted dying. His comments come alongside several senior politicians, including Michael Gove, Alicia Kearns, Mel Stride, Tobias Ellwood and Darren Jones, who have backed another assisted dying vote in Parliament.

The last time MPs voted on assisted dying was 2015. 11 MPs who are now members of Sir Keir’s shadow cabinet supported the bill at the time.

Starmer’s comments come in the light of the news that Dame Esther Rantzen, the broadcaster who founded the charities Childline and The Silver Line, said she had joined the assisted dying centre Dignitas. Dame Esther is currently undergoing treatment for stage four lung cancer.

Cabinet Member Mel Stride said the government did not have plans to bring the law back to parliament but he would not be resistant to discussions if it did. Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove said it was “appropriate for the Commons to revisit [assisted dying]”. Alicia Kearns, Chair of the foreign affairs select committee, said she thought there had been “a fundamental shift in the country, but also in parliament” since 2015. 

Kearns told the BBC: “The amount of my colleagues who say ‘I’ve reflected, I’ve changed my views’… I really do think that the national conversation has changed,”

Esther Rantzen at Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee 2022 – Picture by Andrew Parsons

Prominent Labour MP Darren Jones has told reporters that an assisted dying debate “should happen” and he believes a debate will happen “sooner rather than later”.

The most recent attempt to change the law ended when the bill ran out of time in 2021. There are currently no votes or debates expected on this topic in this parliamentary term.

Avengers and Game of Thrones star Diana Rigg recently made headlines when she made an impassioned case to legalise assisted dying in a message recorded shortly before her death. The message was released by her daughter. 

The Health and Social Care Committee is currently running an inquiry into assisted dying. It was due to publish its findings this year, but due to the debate around the report, it is likely to be published early in 2024. 

Progress on assisted dying legislation is being made in Scotland, Jersey and the Isle of Man. Each jurisdiction is due to debate the issue next year.

Claire Macdonald, Director of My Death, My Decision said:

“We welcome Sir Keir Starmer’s comments that there are “grounds for changing the law” on assisted dying. The current status quo forces British citizens into an impossible choice: flee abroad for an assisted death in a foreign country or stay at home and suffer. The current law is barbaric.

In the next parliament, we desperately need a proper debate and vote on this vital issue. The vast majority of voters want to see a change in the law. Adults who are intolerably suffering from a physical condition that cannot be cured and have come to a clear and settled wish to die should be allowed that right.”

Notes:

Members of the MDMD team, as well as individuals affected by the current law on assisted dying, are available for interview upon request

For further comment or information, media should contact Nathan Stilwell at nathan.stilwell@mydeath-mydecision.org.uk or phone 07456200033.

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.

Read more about our work with the Assisted Dying Inquiry: https://www.mydeath-mydecision.org.uk/2023/07/13/our-summary-the-assisted-dying-inquiry/ 

Esther Rantzen at Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee 2022 – Picture by Andrew Parsons

Dame Esther Rantzen, the broadcaster who founded the charities Childline and The Silver Line, announced on Radio 4’s The Today podcast that she had joined the assisted dying centre Dignitas. Dame Esther is currently undergoing treatment for stage four lung cancer.

Esther Rantzen was described in the podcast as a giant force in the land. 

Prominent Labour MP Darren Jones has told reporters that assisted dying “should be debated” and he believes a debate will happen “sooner rather than later”. The comments were made in the light of several prominent public figures supporting the right to choose. Jones is Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury and was the Chair of the Business and Trade Select Committee. He made the comments to Kate Burley during a discussion about Dame Esther Rantzen’s recent comment on assisted dying.

There has not been a vote on assisted dying since 2015. The most recent attempt to change the law ended when the bill ran out of time in 2021. There are currently no votes or debates expected on this topic in this parliamentary term.

Avengers and Game of Thrones star Diana Rigg recently made headlines when she made an impassioned case to legalise assisted dying in a message recorded shortly before her death. The message was released by her daughter. 

The Health and Social Care Committee is currently running an inquiry into assisted dying. It was due to publish its findings this year, but due to the debate around the report, it is likely to be published early in 2024. 

Progress on assisted dying legislation is being made in Scotland, Jersey and the Isle of Man. Each jurisdiction is due to debate the issue next year.

Claire Macdonald, Director of My Death, My Decision said:

“There’s a reason why so many prominent public figures have recently come out in support of legalising assisted dying. The current status quo in the UK is barbaric and forces individuals into impossible situations – suffer at home or flee abroad for death on your own terms.

Adults who are intolerably suffering from a physical condition that cannot be cured and have come to a clear and settled wish to die should be allowed that right. Diana Rigg should have had a choice and Esther Rantzen should not be forced abroad to exercise her right.”

Notes:

Members of the MDMD team, as well as individuals affected by the current law on assisted dying, are available for interview upon request

For further comment or information, media should contact Nathan Stilwell at nathan.stilwell@mydeath-mydecision.org.uk or phone 07456200033.

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.

Read more about our work with the Assisted Dying Inquiry: https://www.mydeath-mydecision.org.uk/2023/07/13/our-summary-the-assisted-dying-inquiry/ 

An “ethics review” of assisted dying in Jersey has been published, but campaigners have questioned the need for the review, the scope of the report and the report’s recommendations.

Assisted dying has been approved in Jersey ‘in principle’ after a citizens’ jury discussed the topic in immense detail. In 2020, a panel of 23 randomly selected representative members of the community met over a ten-week period. The panellists looked in depth at the ethical question of assisted dying. Evidence was submitted by a large range of international experts. The overwhelming majority recommended that it should be available to adults of sound mind, who are either terminally ill or experiencing unbearable suffering, subject to robust safeguards. 

Since then, the Government of Jersey has run two different consultations on the subject. These consultations included the input of over 28 organisations, numerous individual experts from across the globe and testimony from people in Jersey affected by the law. My Death, My Decision as well as many different organisations commended the professionalism of the consultation report and the consequent proposals by the government at the time.

It is unclear why three individual experts’ opinions have been valued over and above the detailed consultation processes that have been carried out so far. There has been no clear explanation by the government as to why the review was necessary after the thorough processes outlined above. 

The results of the ethical review and its recommendations are at odds with the citizens’ jury on this subject, which specifically went into detail on the eligibility criteria that any law should have. The review has recommended against including adults who are intolerably suffering from an incurable physical illness, despite 69% of the jury specifically voting in favour of that criterion.

The arguments in favour of removing these eligibility criteria included that suffering is hard to define. This is at odds with the decades of experience that can be offered by Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain and Canada. Jersey can look to other jurisdictions for ways in which to address this, as well as examine how they have operated successfully in practice.

Trevor Moore, Chair of My Death, My Decision said:

“The immense amount of time, effort, expertise – and no doubt cost – that has already been invested in consideration of an assisted dying law for Jersey, throws into question why this ethical review was necessary. Equally questionable is why the opinions of three individuals have been allowed to outweigh the detailed jury process and the outcome of a comprehensive consultation, drawing on worldwide expertise.

Rather than exclude discussion of the eligibility criteria for any law on the island, surely all of the decision-makers should be allowed to hear the differing perspectives that feed into the ultimate decision? Not to allow this would be to disregard the substantial work that has already been undertaken to provide those very perspectives.”

Notes:

Members of the MDMD team, as well as individuals affected by the current law on assisted dying, are available for interview upon request

For further comment or information, media should contact Nathan Stilwell at nathan.stilwell@mydeath-mydecision.org.uk or phone 07456200033.

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.

Read more about our work with the Assisted Dying Inquiry: https://www.mydeath-mydecision.org.uk/2023/07/13/our-summary-the-assisted-dying-inquiry/