Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Debate between Lord Falconer of Thoroton and Baroness Berridge

Committee stage
Friday 20th March 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Falconer of Thoroton (Lab)]

I am very grateful to the noble Baronesses, Lady Hollins and Lady Nicholson of Winterbourne, for sharing their experiences with us—in the case of the noble Baroness, Lady Nicholson of Winterbourne, the death of her mother and the circumstances of her mother’s life; and in their case of the noble Baroness, Lady Hollins, the circumstances of her husband’s later illness.

These amendments concern ensuring that people with communication difficulties, hearing difficulties or particular cultural pressures are properly able to access assisted death, but also, very much picking up the words of the noble Earl, Lord Effingham, that they should have an assisted death only if it is crystal clear they have understood everything and it is informed consent. I pay tribute to the noble Baroness, Lady Fraser of Craigmaddie, for the intelligent and sensible way she introduced the amendments. I underline that I think everybody in the Committee would be of the view that the two aims are no discrimination and absolute clarity that somebody has agreed. That is the basis upon which I, as a sponsor of the Bill, approach this matter.

I shall deal first with what the current Bill and my amendments make provision for. Clause 5 states:

“If a registered medical practitioner conducts such a preliminary discussion with a person, the practitioner must first ensure the provision of adjustments for language and literacy barriers, including the use of interpreters”.


We take the view that that clause is inadequate because the assurance is not in the communication—by which I mean that you have to ensure there is effective communication, not that you have to ensure there are reasonable adjustments, because who knows whether the reasonable adjustments would work. For that reason, we have tabled Amendment 170 to change the wording in that clause and the parallel clause, Clause 10, to

“take all reasonable steps to ensure that there is effective communication”.

I am sure that is the right way to do it. The focus should be not on ensuring they have to take the steps but on effective communication. I emphasise that because the noble Baroness, Lady Fraser, said those amendments would make it less safe. They would not: they would make it safer. I hope that, having heard what I have to say, the noble Baroness will see that I am trying to achieve what she, quite rightly, is trying to achieve.

The second method by which the noble Baroness rightly seeks to identify how one improves this is ensuring that there is an independent advocate or somebody who has the ability to deal with the communication difficulties of the sort she proposes. That is in her Amendment 546, which would ensure that you are entitled to an independent advocate if you have communication or speech difficulties.

I hope the noble Baroness will be persuaded if she looks at my Amendment 548A, which sets out in detail, by amendment, the circumstances in which an independent advocate has to be made available. I am sorry to go through this at speed, but I have no other options. Who is entitled to an independent advocate? In proposed new subsection (8)(b), it is a person who

“would experience substantial difficulty in … communicating their views, wishes or feelings (whether by talking, using sign language or any other means)”.

So we have sought to do the same thing as her Amendment 546 proposes. I do not invite her to agree or not at the moment, but I very much hope that she looks at that and that she agrees that we are all trying to get to the same end. I completely accept how she framed the issue around people who have the sort of communication differences that she and the noble Lord, Lord Moore of Etchingham, referred to. I am sad not to see him in his place, but no doubt somebody will tell him—he dealt with exactly that sort of issue. So I am with the noble Baroness on this, and I hope she will be satisfied that I have dealt adequately with the position.

On Clause 5, the noble Baroness, Lady Nicholson of Winterbourne, said: make sure that there is an interpreter and, she would add, an amanuensis. I hope she will take the opportunity of looking at my Amendment 548A and see that it would cover people who are deaf. But, again, if she is not satisfied with that, I would be more than happy to meet her—but I hope she will be satisfied with that. That deals with people with communication and hearing difficulties.

I turn to people who are under cultural pressures, religious pressures or pressures from their sexual identity. I completely understand this because I have had the benefit of conversations with the noble Baroness, Lady Nicholson of Winterbourne, who put to me the following example: a woman who is of a religion that would tell you that you would suffer in hell for ever after if you were to have an assisted death, but who is having one because she is being pressured by a man whom she is used to taking orders from, in effect. The question is not whether one makes special provision for that but whether our five layers of safeguard provide protection against that. I believe that having one doctor, a second doctor, the first doctor looking at it again, the panel and the first doctor looking at it again will identify those cases. So I understand what the noble Baroness says and I hope that, with the safeguard provisions that we have put in, we have covered that.

The final group is the one from the noble Baroness, Lady Grey-Thompson. She wants amendments that say that the report the first assessing doctor has to give should be in a language and format that is accessible to the person getting it. I completely agree. The clause makes provision for the Secretary of State to make regulations about all those matters, including that, and I would expect those regulations to deal with that.

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

The noble and learned Lord has not covered my point.

[Lord Falconer of Thoroton (Lab)]

In relation to the point from the noble Baroness, Lady Berridge, that there should be an absolute exclusion on interpreters under 18, she makes the point that in a case involving, for example, a person under 18 who is the child of somebody going through an assisted death, it would be wholly inappropriate for them to have to deal with that. Again, I do not think we should provide for that in the Bill. It should be dealt with by code of practice. I can envisage circumstances in which somebody who is terminally ill and who does not speak English is comfortable only with their 17 year-old child being the interpreter, so I would be not in favour of an absolute exclusion in those circumstances.

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

To clarify, is the noble and learned Lord saying that a mandatory exclusion would be in a code of practice? We cannot do that unless it is in the Bill. In relation to the latter point, we will just have to agree to differ on the safeguarding issues in relation to a 17 year-old, but would he be agreeable to 16 being the cut-off and mandatory?

[Lord Falconer of Thoroton (Lab)]

I am not in favour of a mandatory bar on any young person. I expect it to be dealt with in a code of practice. I agree that unless there is a mandatory provision in the Bill it will not be effective, but I am not in favour of that mandatory ban.

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Debate between Lord Falconer of Thoroton and Baroness Berridge

Committee stage
Friday 13th March 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Falconer of Thoroton (Lab)]

On the noble Baroness’s first question, Clause 17(5) says that:

“Where the panel considers it appropriate for medical reasons, it may make provision for the use of pre-recorded audio or video material for the purposes of subsection (4).”


Subsection (4) relates to all of the material that the panel is dealing with. Subsection (5) is saying that the panel can use pre-recorded audio material if it thinks it is appropriate. I think it should be given that direction—I cannot see any reason why the panel should be restricted in relation to that.

Turning to the privacy point, paragraph 6 of Schedule 2 says that:

“Panels are to determine referrals in public”—


so the default is that it is in public, not private—but that

“this is subject to sub-paragraph (2)”,

which says that a panel can sit in private if that is what the person wants. The question from the noble Baroness was, basically, why should everything then be in private. It is because everything is about the patient. The whole thing is about the patient. If I want the circumstances of my illness and why I want an assisted death to be private, I should have that option. It is unrealistic to say that we can chop this up into the bits that are about the patient and the bits that are not.

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

The noble and learned Lord is correct that the amendment refers to the wrong person at the local authority. However, the substance of what I said two weeks ago about Amendment 462A is this: does not the panel need a power to ensure it can ask a local authority to meet unmet needs of the person in front of it, such as if their care package has fallen apart or there is a problem with their benefits? At the moment, it has no power to do anything other than approve, if the boxes are ticked. I am not saying that poor people should not apply, but I am asking the noble and learned Lord whether the panel should not have a power to ensure those needs are met when it has that evidence in front of it.

[Lord Falconer of Thoroton (Lab)]

The panel has the power. Clause 17(4) says that the panel

“may ask any person appearing to it to have relevant knowledge or experience to report to it on such matters relating to the person to whom the referral relates as it considers appropriate.”

That power would include a power to ask the local authority to provide any information it wants.

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[Lord Falconer of Thoroton (Lab)]

The point of this part of the Bill is that it is a legitimate option. If the noble Lord is saying that because we have suicide prevention policies in other areas, we should still treat it as something that we should not in any way encourage or help people to access if that is what they want, that is wrong. The true position is that, once it becomes an option, subject to the safeguards being gone through, it is something that people should know about and make their own judgment about.

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

I do not think we have fully understood these two categories. I was grateful to the noble and learned Lord for the meeting with Professor Ruck Keene. It is clear, particularly when you are talking about the Mental Health Act, when there are two different statutes you can choose from, that we need to be clearer about that for clinicians. So, unfortunately, even at this late stage, I am afraid I will have to lay some amendments so that we can really talk about this in detail, because it is a matter of concern, particularly to psychiatrists.

On the points I have made about children, I accept the point from the Minister that the probing amendment is probably too wide. However, we have not even had the comments on the categories of people who can now raise this with children, such as schools, et cetera. I also raised the point—I am grateful that the noble Lord, Lord Tarassenko, is now in his place—that I believe we also now have this gap with regard to what advertising prohibits. You have medical practitioners unable to raise it with under-18s, but then you have a whole wealth of technology in between that, which can, as we know, even with a mistaken question, raise this issue with under-18s. What does the noble and learned Lord envisage will happen in those scenarios, which are at the moment subject to legal cases in other jurisdictions?

[Lord Falconer of Thoroton (Lab)]

A whole range of issues is covered to a large extent by the Online Safety Act in relation to the promotion of suicide, particularly to young people. That, in a way, is a separate issue from this issue. I fully encourage and support all attempts to try to reduce the risks to young people, but I am afraid that the Bill cannot take that on, on its own.

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Debate between Lord Falconer of Thoroton and Baroness Berridge

Committee stage
Friday 27th February 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Falconer of Thoroton (Lab)]

Yes, I understand that.

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

I am grateful to the noble and learned Lord for his realistic acceptance of the difficulty of judicial review as a remedy for many people. I would be grateful if he could also reflect on the situation with family members: if the panel approves assisted dying, their remedy to challenge that is judicial review. We heard evidence in the Select Committee, particularly from Sir Nick Mostyn, that that is just fine. Many of us, particularly myself, do not feel that it is satisfactory for family members to have to resort to judicial review if they have evidence, for instance, that there has been coercion. Will the noble and learned Lord reflect on that, which may avoid further amendments later down the line?

[Lord Falconer of Thoroton (Lab)]

I will certainly reflect on that, and may I express my gratitude to the noble Baroness, Lady Berridge, for facilitating the meeting with Professor Ruck Keene? It was incredibly helpful, and I genuinely appreciate it. Yes, I will reflect on what the noble Baroness said. I suspect there will be a similar answer to the one I gave to the noble Baroness, Lady O’Loan: we have to be as specific as we possibly can in the Bill, because judicial review is difficult for normal people, particularly in those circumstances. That is why, whether it is a court system or any other system, we must try to make this as clear as possible in the Bill.

Amendment 146, in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady O’Loan, says that the assisted dying commissioner should be able to investigate patterns. In particular, she cites what may happen in relation to care homes. I agree that the assisted dying commissioner should have that ability. He does have that ability under Clause 49(1)(a), (b) and (c); so, for example, if he is concerned about a pattern developing in care homes, he already has the power to monitor that.

The noble Lord, Lord Morrow, asked whether there should be a further Equality Act assessment. I dealt with that last time and said I had looked carefully at what the former commissioner had said and I did not think that a further impact assessment was appropriate, because, if you constantly make particular points that are covered in general, you are never going to get to an end of it. I do not think that the points the commissioner raised were ones that had not already been considered in the impact assessment.

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[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, I will speak to Amendment 462A in my name, which outlines that, before approving any application, the panel must be satisfied that the person requesting assistance has had the requisite assistance from the local authority in relation to the delivery of statutory services.

The amendment deals with the problem caused by the basic principles of the Bill, which is based on a very narrow concept of procedural autonomy. If it is only this that matters, then for the panel, as long as they can tick the boxes saying there is no coercion or pressure, and that the person has capacity et cetera, then the application is approved. It is approved under the current drafting of the Bill even if the panel believes and has evidence that the person is applying because, for instance, their housing is inadequate, the care package fell apart, they are actually grieving for other relatives or they are poor.

This amendment would mean that, before any such approval is made by the panel, it must be satisfied that the local authority has received a referral to look at the statutory provision of services for the person. In relation to this, I am grateful that the noble and learned Lord enjoyed his meeting with Professor Alex Ruck Keene, because he has put this a number of times in written and oral evidence about the concept of the panel and its powers, and it is worth quoting:

“You have to think … carefully about what purpose any … of this oversight is actually serving societally, if the oversight panel, whether that be a judge or a panel, cannot decline to approve an application if it considers that the reason the individual is seeking assistance in dying is because of service provision failures by the statutory bodies responsible for meeting their health and social care needs”.—[Official Report, Commons, Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill Committee, 28/1/25; col. 96.]


I know the noble and learned Lord has answered many questions and commented about the access to this service for the poor. This is a different question. I am not saying that poor people should not be able to apply. I distinguish that from a situation where the panel has concluded on the evidence that, although the person satisfies all the tests under the Act, the evidence is that they are before the panel because they are poor. There are many instances of this from other jurisdictions, for instance, particularly in relation to homelessness. People have come forward for MAID in Canada because they are homeless, which is available because it is not just for terminal illness in Canada.

In relation to the amendment, it may be that the drafting needs to be different; it might be that this needs to be done not just before the provision but can be twin tracked, so that you approve the application but at the same time make sure the local authority deals with the provision of services. I hope the noble and learned Lord will take seriously this additional power for the panel to ensure that people are there for the reason that they are exercising their autonomy in relation to the Act and not pressured because of lack of statutory services.

[Lord Falconer of Thoroton (Lab)]

The noble Baroness refers to it as an additional power but, as I understand the amendment, it says that this is an additional requirement for a certificate of eligibility.

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

I am grateful to the noble and learned Lord. I accept that drafting changes might be needed between now—

[Lord Falconer of Thoroton (Lab)]

The noble Baroness says, “drafting changes”, but there is a fundamental difference between saying that this is an additional condition that the panel has to be satisfied of and giving it a power. I understand the noble Baroness’s amendment to be saying that an additional requirement needs to be satisfied.

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

When I mention drafting changes, I mean in relation to the timing of this. As drafted, it would need to be done before the application is granted, and it may be that the requirement to go to the local authority could be at the same time as having approved it, not before. But, yes, this would be an additional requirement on the panel.

I hope the noble and learned Lord the sponsor or the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, can help with my second point on the principle of the Bill. The noble Baroness, Lady Hayter, referred to the situation based on autonomy: the individual wants to do this and does not want to tell relatives. If we are strict purists about that—we had evidence on this at the Select Committee—then with this Bill there could be a situation where the first time anyone hears about the death is when the medical examiner telephones a relative.

I have tabled amendments in a different group on a requirement to nominate next of kin who are over the age of 18. I think it would be useful for the Committee to know what the situation is if someone acts completely autonomously like this and the body is there. Does the noble and learned Lord the sponsor need to bolt on a provision so that there is a public health burial? That is the continuation of the logic of this that you can do this alone, with no one in your life knowing about it. Therefore, to exercise that autonomy fully, there would need to be a public health burial, with everything done before anyone in the family knows. That is a conceptual difference. The noble and learned Lord and I spoke about this in a meeting in relation to what the law is, and it would be good for him to clarify the situation. Can the medical examiner not call anybody and go forward with a public health burial?

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Debate between Lord Falconer of Thoroton and Baroness Berridge

Committee stage
Friday 30th January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Falconer of Thoroton (Lab)]

I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Coffey, for raising artificial intelligence. There was, broadly, a consensus around the Committee, which the noble Baroness supported, that the amendment is much too blunt, but as she said, fairly, it gives us an opportunity to talk about AI. I will also pick up the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Hereford’s contribution; he rightly said, as has been echoed around the Committee, that there have been huge benefits for patients from AI.

I think four concerns were raised during the debate. The first was: will AI affect decision-making? I think the underlying point there is that we do not want machines to make the decisions that are referred to in the Bill; we want human beings to make them. In particular, the decisions I have in mind are the decision of the first doctor, the decision of the second doctor, the decision of the panel, and the decision of the doctor, at the point that the assistance is being given, that the conditions are still satisfied. Everybody around the Chamber wants that to be decided by a doctor or a panel, depending on which it is, and I completely and unreservedly endorse and accept that.

Does that need to be made even clearer in the Bill? I will consider it, but I do not think that it does. The acid test for me is that if you fail to comply with your obligations as a doctor or as a panel, you can go to prison for up to five years. It is very difficult to imagine how you could put a machine in prison, so it is pretty clear that these decisions must be made by a human being. For my part and for everybody who supports the Bill, that must remain the position.

The second concern is advertising, which the noble Baroness, Lady Berridge, referred to. She is absolutely right. I have made it clear that I will bring forward amendments. Those amendments, which are almost finally drafted, make provision specifically in relation to digital advertising—they do not specifically refer to AI, but we need to address that in the advertising provision. I will lay those amendments so that the House can consider them.

The third concern is slightly generalised, which is that AI is very persuasive, particularly in persuading people to do things that they do not necessarily want to do. The first thing on that is that there is a wider societal requirement to address the pervasive impacts of AI in a whole range of things. We should all try to contribute to that. More focused on this is the question of the safeguards in the Bill, because they then become incredibly important. In particular, the safeguards require that there is doctor-to-patient discussion in relation to the decision for that patient, and they are specifically required in the preliminary conversation, the first conversation and the second conversation. It is those safeguards that one must see as the antidote to the persuasive aspect of AI, but I completely accept what people said on that.

The fourth issue, which was touched on very briefly, was the operation of devices. That, I think, referred to the fact that quite a number of medical devices can be operated by, for example, the blink of an eye or something quite minor. Again, that needs to be properly safeguarded. Those may not necessarily be AI problems but problems with other sorts of developments in technology.

I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Coffey, for raising this. We need to consider all the points she made. At the moment, apart from the advertising amendment, which I will bring forward, I am not sure that it requires amendment to the Bill.

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

Is there a guarantee that we will see those amendments in Committee rather than on Report? That is important, because there is a very different procedure in Committee, in which we can go back and forth and query amendments.

[Lord Falconer of Thoroton (Lab)]

I am going to do my best.

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Debate between Lord Falconer of Thoroton and Baroness Berridge

Committee stage
Friday 23rd January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Falconer of Thoroton (Lab)]

It is for Parliament to decide whether it is willing to pass the Bill. If Parliament is willing to pass the Bill, there may be the need for the legal change that the noble Lord, Lord Stevens, referred to. Whether or not you are willing to make the change is, for the reason I have said, a matter of what you think is the principle. Those are the only remarks that I need to make in relation to that, and I invite the noble Lord to withdraw his amendment.

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

There will later be a group of amendments that relate to freedom of conscience. The noble and learned Lord has outlined another group of people in response to solving the issue from the Delegated Powers Committee around commissioners and NHS England. At this stage, in an effort to use our time efficiently, will he think about how wide the conscience clause will need to be to include people who have objections to this—it is not just clinicians; it may be those who do not want to be involved in commissioning these services—so that we do not end up with a huge group later in Committee?

[Lord Falconer of Thoroton (Lab)]

I will certainly think about it. I am not quite sure what the noble Baroness is asking, but whatever it is, I will try to co-operate as much as possible.

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[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

I made precisely this point, not about the information that is provided but about how people are getting their information, and about misinformation. We are beginning to hear of cases of ChatGPT potentially suggesting that a young person take their own life. Informed consent as the noble and learned Lord described is very much in the classical sense, as I learned. The point I made is about dealing with misinformation and malinformation. What is the duty now? I invite the noble and learned Lord to write to me, but I think—I hope—it is a developing area of law.

[Lord Falconer of Thoroton (Lab)]

I apologise; I should have answered that request. I do not want to write; I want to tell the noble Baroness the answer now. The Bill, in the places that I have indicated, says that the panel, the two doctors and the assisting doctor must be satisfied that the consent is informed. If the position is that the person who wants the assistance, or is about to get the assistance, is misinformed in the way that the noble Baroness described, that would not be informed consent. For example, having been subject to digital information that is completely wrong or misleading in what it says would not be informed consent. As time goes on, no doubt doctors and others who have to satisfy themselves that the consent is informed will have to take steps to ensure that the patient’s understanding is right.

This goes to what the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, said. Sometimes, people do not take in what you are saying. Some people take in the wrong thing. Other people are, in the back of their mind—you cannot know this—thinking of something that is completely wrong. It is for the doctor or the panel in every case to satisfy themselves. It is explicit in the Bill that consent must be informed.

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[Lord Falconer of Thoroton (Lab)]

Again, I do not think it needs to be on the face of the Bill, because the Bill is clear about the rights of the doctor in relation to that.

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

Sadly, for the noble and learned Lord, I think that there are more amendments that need to be discussed, including one that I have laid. We have all discussed this on the basis that there is no one else in the room. There could be relatives there expressing a wish. We have discussed this on the basis that the patient rises and has capacity. They may not have capacity and there may be relatives in the room with enduring powers of attorney. The noble Baroness, Lady Hayter, shakes her head, but there are many scenarios in which there is not clarity in the Bill between the moment the drug is administered and the moment of death or it fails. I am afraid that I give the noble and learned Lord notice that I think we will have to come back to this, because the medical profession is asking for clarity.

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Debate between Lord Falconer of Thoroton and Baroness Berridge

Committee stage
Friday 9th January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Falconer of Thoroton (Lab)]

I do not accept that. The position is in relation to the panel. If it wants a report from a doctor, it can get it. I understand the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, to be saying that the court can ask for all these things—which of course it can—and if it thinks they are appropriate, it will do so. I assume it will not ask for them when it does not think they are necessary to the resolution of the issues. The panel can do the same and, if it does not get them, just like the court, it will have to say no.

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

In relation to the panel, as a non-medic I understand from my time on the Select Committee that “multidisciplinary” has a particular meaning within healthcare that the witness to the Commons was relating to, so it is not quite the same issue. Is the noble and learned Lord not concerned that only two of the three representative bodies of the panel came and gave evidence to the Select Committee, and the British Association of Social Workers and the Royal College of Psychiatrists are not supporting the Bill, regardless of what their view might be on the principle? Although the noble and learned Lord is obviously very well persuaded by the evidence, the professional bodies that would sit on this panel are not yet persuaded.

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Debate between Lord Falconer of Thoroton and Baroness Berridge

Committee stage
Friday 5th December 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Falconer of Thoroton (Lab)]

Just to clarify my position, I was responding to the debate which gave rise to real concerns about the age. I understood the noble Baronesses, Lady Cass and Lady Finlay, to say that perhaps a way forward would be to see whether there were additional safeguards from 18 to 25. That would involve me having a discussion with them and, if they were satisfied that there were additional safeguards and that they thought the age of 18 was right, that would obviously have an effect on me. If they put other arguments, I would obviously take them on board as well. My experience of the House is that, if one sees a way forward, before one continues making the same arguments as before, one sees whether a compromise that sensible Members of the House think would be enough works and whether it could attract support on Report. That was what I was thinking.

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

May I draw the attention of the noble and learned Lord to the fact that the amendments I have laid in relation to EHCPs and additional assessment criteria are currently in group 7? If he has that meeting and that compromise might be available, that may enable me to withdraw some amendments.

[Lord Falconer of Thoroton (Lab)]

I very much welcome that suggestion. I also welcome the suggestion of the noble Lord, Lord Harper, who, as I understand it, is saying that we should also look at the clinical diagnosis of people. The noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, also raised that point. I am more than happy to include both those things, and if they both want to come, I would welcome them.

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Debate between Lord Falconer of Thoroton and Baroness Berridge

Committee stage
Friday 21st November 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, my name is on the amendment that the noble and learned Lord has just mentioned. This was also from Second Reading. There are loads of people signing forms saying that coercion or pressure has not happened. What is the situation with the internet? What is the situation for young people? We are failing young people if we do not make clear how that practitioner is going to know. Young people are pressured through non-human means nowadays.

[Lord Falconer of Thoroton (Lab)]

The Bill makes it absolutely clear that it must be your own decision. Let us suppose that your views of the world are affected by the internet and that you are ill and an organisation is urging you to commit suicide, that organisation should be liable if that happens.

In Amendment 49, the noble Baroness, Lady Coffey, wants “person” to include a body corporate or an organisation in relation to pressure. If an organisation or a body corporate is putting pressure on a group of people or on individuals and that makes them do it—this is putting it crudely, but if an organisation says, “Do have an assisted death; it is the right thing for everybody or for you”—that should be covered by the Bill. The noble Baroness adverted to how “person” can generally include both corporate person and human person, but I can talk to her separately about that to make sure that it is covered.