Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Debate between Lord Hunt of Kings Heath and Lord Falconer of Thoroton

Committee stage
Friday 21st November 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords—

[Lord Falconer of Thoroton (Lab)]

This is a new practice that every answer one gives, the person then responds by repeating their speech. So, if it is new, yes—

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

The Companion states that in Committee we are entitled to speak more than once, and I think it is more helpful to do it this way. I am the 11th amendment in this group that the noble and learned Lord has so eloquently dismissed so far, but I think he has about another 10 to go.

I want to make two points. First, does the noble and learned Lord not reflect, on all the concerns that have been expressed, that the Bill might have had a smoother passage if he had shown any disposition whatever to take any of these issues away and reflect on them before coming back on Report? Secondly, I mentioned the Human Tissue Authority legislation that provides some protection and investigation to make sure that a donor is not getting a financial reward. Will he at least look at that to see whether there is any way in which we could reflect that in this legislation?

[Lord Falconer of Thoroton (Lab)]

On my noble friend’s first question, I have not dismissed all the amendments; I have accepted that we should look at some of them, and very many of the ones I am not accepting are because they are already covered in the Bill. I am rejecting some of them on the basis that I do not think they are practical. When my noble friend talked about the donor, I think he was talking about, for example, somebody who may benefit from the will of the patient. Indeed, that was a point raised by the noble Lord, Lord Farmer. Very often, the person who most supports you in relation to this is the person you love most and who is going to benefit under your will. So, very frequently the person who has taken a loved one to Switzerland is the person who is then going to inherit under their will. That does not make them bad, and I would most certainly not exclude people who benefit from the will of the person who dies because they have helped them in this respect. It seems to me to not properly recognise the importance of human relations in relation to this.

I have dealt with the point of the noble Lord, Lord Farmer, about the will. His second point was that, if you had a friend who was convicted of a criminal offence involving financial fraud of some sort, you should not be able to have an assisted death unless there is an investigation of your financial position. Well, if I reject the point from my noble friend Lord Hunt in relation to a close relative or the person you speak with, then I think, for the reasons I have given, it also does not apply in relation to a friend.

In Amendment 181, the noble Baroness, Lady Grey-Thompson, proposes that the doctor must ask why and seek specific confirmation that a decision is not coerced. There is no specific requirement for that in the Bill: it is for the two doctors to determine what they think the right course is. If they felt that they could not reach a decision without asking why, or without asking, “Are you being coerced?”, they would have to ask that. But there is no prohibition. It is, as the noble Lord, Lord Pannick, said, a decision for the two doctors and the panel to decide, in each case, what is the best way to reach a conclusion as to whether this person is being coerced. That is the question that all these things are addressing.