Assisted Dying Bill [HL]

Debate between Lord McColl of Dulwich and Lord Browne of Belmont

Friday 7th November 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord McColl of Dulwich]

My Lords, my first concern about the Bill is the risk that has been already mentioned —that one might create a society in which the vulnerable, the dependent and the weak believe that they have a duty to die. My second concern is the risk to the doctor-patient relationship and the fact that the current approach of the medical team is to care and never to kill or assist in killing.

I have therefore tabled Amendment 12 with the noble Lords, Lord Browne and Lord Morrow, to add two new subsections to Clause 1. The Explanatory Notes to the Bill say of Clause 1:

“This clause would enable a person who is terminally ill to request and be given assistance to end their own life. The process is dependent upon a request being made by the person concerned and no other person, including the patient’s doctor, family or partner would be able to initiate the process of requesting an assisted death”.

We agree that should the Bill become law, it should be the person himself or herself who is making the request. Indeed, the commission of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, said on page 29 of its report that,

“we do not envisage that it could ever be appropriate for health or social care professionals to offer assisted dying as an option; only the patients themselves should be able to initiate a conversation about assisted dying”.

On page 43 of the Explanatory Notes accompanying the draft Bill, published by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Choice at the End of Life in partnership with Dignity in Dying, it states:

“While doctors would be free to discuss other aspects of end-of-life care, only the patient themselves could initiate a conversation about assisted dying–a doctor could not suggest it and a relative could not make the request to a doctor on behalf of the patient”.

I fully agree with the sentiment behind these statements, but as far as I can see, there is nothing in Clause 1 as currently drafted to prevent the doctor initiating the discussion with the patient. There is nothing in the Bill that sets out the safeguard that a doctor cannot suggest that a patient should consider assisted suicide or that a family member could not have an initial conversation with the doctor.

I am operating on the premise that everything is legal unless it is illegal. The claim that only the patient can initiate the process seems unsustainable. I am sure that there are noble Lords who think that I am scaremongering here. However, on the basis of what has happened in Oregon, it seems unrealistic to assume that a doctor will not suggest assisted suicide as an option if the law is changed. A letter from an Oregon resident in 2011 set out how she overheard her doctor suggesting assisted suicide to her husband. She said:

“When my husband was seriously ill several years ago, I collapsed in a half-exhausted heap in a chair once I got him into the doctor’s office, relieved that we were going to get badly needed help (or so I thought).

To my surprise and horror, during the exam I overheard the doctor giving my husband a sales pitch for assisted suicide. ‘Think of what it will spare your wife, we need to think of her’ he said”.

Such a suggestion from a doctor is bound to influence a patient’s thinking.

I am concerned about this change in the doctor-patient relationship from advocating positive treatment to suggesting to somebody that they end their life. As the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, previously stated, suggestions of this kind should not occur. However, doctors may feel obliged to make such a suggestion to a patient if the Bill becomes law. When the National Council for Palliative Care gave evidence to a House of Lords Select Committee in 2005, it foresaw a situation where:

“Physicians will be under a professional duty to raise it as an option with their patients if they complain of suffering unbearably, as it will be considered to fall in the category of ‘best interests’”.

The fact is that assisted suicide has been integrated into medical practice in Oregon. For instance, patients have been refused chemotherapy by their insurance company, but offered assisted suicide because it was covered by their insurance plan. They tell me that everything to do with euthanasia and assisted suicide in Oregon is working well. They can tell that to the horse marines. I beg to move.

[Lord Browne of Belmont (DUP)]

My Lords, I rise to speak in favour of Amendment 12, which was tabled by the noble Lord, Lord McColl of Dulwich, and which I have co-signed. Amendment 12 would have the effect of adding two additional subsections to Clause 1. The first new subsection would ensure that only a person who is terminally ill may initiate a request for assistance to end their own life. The second new subsection would ensure that no medical professional can make a suggestion to an individual that they consider seeking to take their own life.

Like many in this House, I have always opposed a change in the law to allow for assisted dying. I understand the sincere motivations of those who desire to change the law and I have listened to the many eloquent speeches given by Peers from across the House in favour of the change. However, I have never been convinced by the idea that such a law would be the right way forward. I continue to believe, as I said at Second Reading, that this is not a path we should go down. Such a change would have a detrimental impact on the lives of some of the most vulnerable people living in the United Kingdom today, especially those who are disabled, who may feel under enormous strain to take their own lives, even if they do not want to do so.

To that end, I welcome the opportunity presented by this Committee and specifically by Amendment 12 to highlight the fundamental flaws in this legislation. Amendment 12 very effectively helps to highlight the failure of the Bill to guard against the very real possibility of people encouraging others to seek assisted dying. I find it quite extraordinary that those drafting the Bill failed to have regard for such basic, elementary dangers arising from the legislation. While I am sure that no Member of your Lordships’ House would countenance such a possibility, unfortunately human nature is such that we must all acknowledge the real possibility of some people encouraging others to end their lives for financial or other gain if the Bill becomes law.

To my mind, it is easy to envisage a scenario where a family member who would perhaps gain financially from the death of an elderly relative or who was tired of having to care for that person could initiate a request for assistance in ending the life of their relative. The person might not want to die but, on seeing that their relative wants them to end their life, they go along with it, perhaps because, as we have heard, they do not want to be a burden. I think that your Lordships will agree that such a scenario is not far-fetched.

The second new subsection proposed in Amendment 12 is also imperative. I am not a medical expert, as I know some noble Lords are, including the noble Lord, Lord McColl, but, as a layperson, when I listen to the opinion of my doctors, I trust their judgment. If a doctor tells me that I should take a particular medication or go forward for an operation, I will do so on the basis of their judgment, although obviously within reason. I believe that I am like many in our society in this respect. We trust medical professionals who look after our best interests, and they are in a position of significant influence as a consequence.

Under the Bill as it currently stands, it seems that it would be legal for a medical professional to suggest that a person considers the option of assisted dying. To my mind, that is deeply concerning. If a medical professional were to suggest to a terminally ill person that they should consider the option of assisted dying, this could have the effect of putting significant pressure on that person to take their own life. This would especially be the case if the patient was not medically informed or trained. If a trusted physician who had been caring for a terminally ill person and had forged a relationship with them was to tell them that they should consider the option of assisted dying or, indeed, if they were to go further and try to sell the idea, it would be easy to envisage a person in that vulnerable state being swayed by the view of the physician. This is not sheer conjecture about what might happen in a doctor’s surgery if the law were changed.

An article entitled “Oregon Physicians’ Attitudes About and Experiences With End-of-Life Care Since Passage of the Oregon Death with Dignity Act”, published by the Journal of the American Medical Association in May 2001, reported under the section on changes in clinical practice since the law in Oregon came into being:

“Six percent of physicians had initiated a discussion about physician-assisted suicide with a terminally ill patient, including 10% of physicians who opposed the law and 6% of physicians who supported the law”.

Human nature says that doctors will make suggestions to patients and that there will be relatives who discuss the option of assisted dying with a doctor. I believe that we should protect individuals at a time of vulnerability and not bring more pressure upon them. I support Amendment 12.