Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Debate between Lord Winston and Baroness Finlay of Llandaff

Committee stage
Friday 23rd January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (CB)]

It might be helpful to add that, in normal procedure, you would explain to a patient what the complications may be but also what you will do. This Bill does not say what you will do. That is why I pointed out that somebody who is very drowsy and beginning to wake from a huge dose of lethal drugs would not be able to self-administer a further dose. This Bill is very clear that the practitioner does not administer the fatal dose; it must be done by the person themselves. Therefore, we have a bit of a gap here, because the doctor can tell them what might happen, but it does not seem that the doctor can tell them what they will do in the event of it happening and how it would be managed.

[Lord Winston (Lab)]

Before the noble Baroness sits down, what about the patient who says, “I’m not interested in the complications; I just want the injection as soon as possible”? At what stage is that allowable under medical practice? I have refused information from a doctor myself in the past. People have that autonomy, do they not?

[Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (CB)]

Of course patients are welcome to refuse. I am slightly worried by the noble Lord’s phrase “I just want the injection”. The Bill is very clear: this is about self-administration. The doctor has to discuss with the patient how they are going to inject themselves with the lethal dose of drugs, whether they will do it with different syringes, if there is a mixture in the syringe and the complications of trying to do that. In asking the question, the noble Lord has just illustrated the nub of the problem.

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Debate between Lord Winston and Baroness Finlay of Llandaff

Committee stage
Friday 5th December 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (CB)]

The issue with the Mental Capacity Act is that each assessment must be done individually. It relates to the decision that is to be made, the size of the decision, the time and the personal characteristics. There is no absolute. If we are talking about safety in relation to the Bill and avoiding abuse, I am simply trying to suggest that one way forward may be to ensure that the assessment of young people’s eligibility is particularly thorough. That may mean having different criteria and looking at whether they have pain or suffering.

[Lord Winston (Lab)]

I wonder whether the noble Baroness might be kind enough to clarify. She is, after all, a hugely respected individual in the field, of which she is such an expert—I do not doubt that for a moment. Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, a fellow of the Royal Society, has been spending her time looking at peer pressure. That is what her publications have largely been about. Is the noble Baroness really suggesting that a young person of, say, 18, dying of a horrible and painful cancer, would be subject to peer pressure? They might be subject to pressure from doctors but I doubt that they would be subject to peer pressure.

[Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (CB)]

I was simply relating what I found when I was in the Netherlands relating to peer pressure on young people because of the normalisation of euthanasia across that society.