Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Debate between Lord Shamash and Lord Farmer

Committee stage
Friday 6th February 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Shamash (Lab)]

I apologise. Yes, the word is “suffocated”—he was suffocating as his lungs began to fade.

[Lord Farmer (Con)]

My Lords, I support the amendment tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Coffey. I am going to talk about my sister, whom I asked before she died whether I could bring her case before your Lordships. She said yes, so I have.

My sister had a very unhappy life; she was badly abused when she was a child and tried to kill herself three times before she was 20. Thankfully, she stayed alive until she was 75, and all the time she expressed her will as, “I don’t want to live”. When I was introduced here, she was here, and she said, “I’m glad I’m alive”, which I was very happy about. However, thereafter, she developed lung cancer. She had been a smoker, and she was obviously dying but she refused treatment. She allowed the lung cancer to kill her, but at all times, she had the option to have treatment for it. She had the autonomy to take the positive route, but she decided not to. She did not have any assistance from anybody else, and she died fairly peacefully when she was 75. I wanted to bring her case to your Lordships’ House in support of what the noble Baroness, Lady Coffey, was saying.