Assisted Dying Bill [HL]

Baroness Andrews Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 22nd October 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Andrews (Lab)]

My Lords, it is a real privilege to take part in this debate and I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher, on the Bill and the way in which she introduced it. It was particularly moving to hear the words in support of the Bill of our dear friend, the noble Lord, Lord Field, as he lies dying, and to hear the witness of so many in this House who have had such profound and painful personal experiences. I have not had that experience. My support for the Bill is based on a series of other experiences and on evidence and ethics.

One of the huge changes since the Joffe Bill in 2003 is, as one palliative care doctor said to me, that death has come out of the closet. It is now so much easier for doctors and patients to talk about what makes life valuable and to go beyond the metaphor to the deeper layers of fear and suffering. In short, dying well has become an extension of living well. This change has, I believe, been formed and informed by the fact that more and more countries are making the choice to choose legalised assisted dying. Australia is not a particularly radical country. It has deep religious roots, yet only one state in Australia now does not have assisted dying, New South Wales, which, as we speak, is debating a similar Bill. As we have heard, the medical profession is changing its mind, but it is still far behind public opinion.

In short, the debate in favour of assisted dying has changed to become more inclusive, balanced, powerful and evidenced. The arguments against have not changed and I believe that they are losing their force, because they remain, as the noble Lord, Lord Dobbs, said in his powerful speech, largely speculative. The assertion that assisted dying is the enemy of good palliative care is countered by the evidence from, for example, Palliative Care Australia that when dying people can have some control of their final days, palliative care becomes better, not worse. The assertion that the Bill is the start of a slippery slope is contradicted by the fact that there is no rush to take up the option of assisted dying, because overwhelmingly what people want is to have the ability not to make the choice to die but to have the choice when the palliative care doctor says, “I can do no more.”

I support the Bill not because I reject the idea of the sanctity of life, because there is more evidence for assisted dying than against it or because I believe in a perfect world where we would be entitled to everything we want. It is because I believe that the Bill is profoundly and urgently ethical. I support it because it seeks to put the mercy of the law around people who are now beyond its protection, people who could go on living but who must be well enough to travel to choose to die earlier in Switzerland—a law that forces relatives and doctors into criminal choices. We might all rage against the dying of the light, but what we all want is to go gently.