Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Lord Cashman Excerpts

Friday 19th September 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Cashman (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, I watched as my late husband and partner of 31 years died, knowing there was a better, more humane way. When my dear friend of many, many years suffered for months, she knew there was another way, and she implored me to help. And I did. I was prepared to break the law, as I contacted clinics in the Netherlands and Switzerland. However, it was to come to nothing.

But these are the words of an observer. I would rather you hear the words of someone facing death, my dear friend, Elise. She writes:

“I’m 51 years old, and I have secondary cancer of the lungs, liver and bones. Or to put it bluntly, I’m dying. I was diagnosed just over a year ago. My medical team are very reluctant to give me a number, but I’ve been told that people with similar conditions can expect to live for around two years. I’ll let you do the maths ...


I’ve just been told that my life-extending drugs have stopped working. I’m in a horrible limbo, awaiting test results to determine the next course of action, and hoping against hope that my liver holds out until I can get onto a different medication. I’m absolutely terrified.


I’m not telling you this to garner pity. Believe me, I am living my very best (end of) life. I am surrounded by beautiful family and friends, and immersing myself in art and culture, and generally having as much fun as is humanly possible. I try to find the joy. Every. Single. Day. But some days that’s harder than others. Not least because I know that one day, things will start to deteriorate. And the pain (which on a bad day is already pretty bad) will become intolerable.


I’ve witnessed terminal illness close up. I’ve seen a long, painful, drawn-out death. It was deeply traumatic. I still have nightmares about it. I can still smell it, and taste it. I do not want that for myself. I don’t want that for anyone.


This Bill is urgent. The stakes couldn’t be higher. It is 100 years in the making, and it can’t come soon enough. And much as I’d love to be a medical miracle and defy the odds, if it does pass, it will probably come too late for me. But I’m asking Peers to vote in favour, in the hope that it will save the unnecessary pain and suffering for many hundreds, indeed thousands of people just like me. And their families.


Since becoming part of this campaign, I’ve heard the most harrowing end of life experiences from people I now consider my friends. People like Gareth whose father … blew his head off with a shotgun. And Lucy, whose partner Tom eventually suffocated after hours of faecal vomiting. Every single story breaks my heart all over again. Not least because there could have been another way. And that’s why this vote is so important. It’s a vote for another way. A more progressive, compassionate way. A vote for choice for terminally ill people …


I don’t want to die. Of course I don’t. I am having the time of my life right now. Truly, there’s something about a terminal diagnosis that makes you really live life to the full. But I do have to face reality. I’ve had a pretty good life, and I want a Good Death. I deserve a Good Death. And I would challenge any Peer that votes against, to look me in the eye and tell me why I don’t deserve that. Why don’t I deserve to die in dignity?”


These are the words of my friend, Elise Burns, about a Bill that does not impose choice, but allows it.