Assisted Dying Bill [HL]

Baroness Sherlock Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 22nd October 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sherlock (Lab)]

My Lords, I, too, oppose the Bill. I am a Christian and a priest in the Church of England, but I should say that I do not take a whip from my bishop, or even the most reverend Primate the Archbishop of Canterbury, and I am not here to preach, although obviously if any noble Lord wants to come to church I will tell them where to find me.

I shall not ask anyone in this House to oppose the Bill because of my religious views—because I want them to share them or because I want noble Lords to think that my religious views trump anything else. I want the Bill to be rejected because I believe it would change our society for the worse. When I scrutinise any legislation in this House, my starting point is always: how will it impact the most vulnerable in our society and those least able to speak out? Today is no different. The noble Baroness, Lady Meacher, and I are often allies in that very perspective, but not today because I believe that vulnerable people will suffer harm as an unintended consequence of our taking the first step down the road of legalising assisted dying.

Writing in the BMJ, Dr Lucy Thomas reports research showing that the strongest predictors of the desire to hasten death are not physical symptoms, but rather depression, hopelessness and the perception of being a burden. Every priest I know has sat with vulnerable, terminally ill people and heard people deeply worried about being a burden to others. No safeguard can protect against a view genuinely held, sometimes aggravated by depression, that it would be better for their loved ones if they just died, and died quickly. I dread the thought that at that point—the point at which the NHS tells someone about their options—one of the options will be assistance to kill themselves. I also hate the idea that somehow, at the point at which we have nothing but our need, society thinks that we are less valuable and we should come to think that as well.

I cannot share the confidence of the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher, that the Bill will result in improved palliative care. According to a 2020 study of trends analysis of palliative care in 51 European countries, which she may know, the average growth in palliative care services was slower in countries with assisted dying than in those without. Let us be blunt: our NHS is already under massive financial pressure. I do not want us following the US and Canada, where health economists quantify how much money the healthcare budget saves by ending lives prematurely through medically assisted dying. Social care is massively struggling, palliative care is under pressure—it is very hard to get it on the NHS—and hospices have made people redundant. No one looking back at the treatment during the pandemic of those who were old, disabled or in care homes should have any confidence that, when push comes to shove and we are under pressure, our society will always prioritise the needs of vulnerable and disabled people or see their lives as having equal value to those of others in society.

I have heard some incredibly moving stories here and in writing to me, and I have massive compassion for all those who are struggling. Choice matters, but my choice does not get to trump the needs and interests of others. We are not just autonomous individuals. We are intertwined and interdependent, and I believe the Bill would do our society harm.