Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting)

Daniel Francis Excerpts

Committee stage
Wednesday 12th February 2025 Public Bill Committees

[Danny Kruger]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for stating so clearly the ultra-libertarian position: “Leave it all open; trust the doctors—allow them to conclude if there has been any problem.” The implication of the Bill is that some questions will be asked, appropriately, but I do not think the questions are quite tight enough. I am afraid to say that I disagree with the hon. Gentleman’s suggestion that leaving it “completely open”, as he puts it, to doctors would be safe.

[Daniel Francis (Bexleyheath and Crayford) (Lab)]

To pick up the points made by the right hon. Member for North West Hampshire and the hon. Member for Reigate, my understanding of the discussion we had this morning and where we now are is that it would be an offence under the Suicide Act to encourage a loved one to commit suicide when they have nine months left to live but that it would not be an offence under the Bill to encourage a loved one to take assisted death when they have six months left to live. My understanding is that the hon. Member for Reigate is saying that, whether we do it now or in later clauses, we should try to bring the two pieces of legislation in line with each other on the term “encouragement”.

[Danny Kruger]

There is a certain confusion about the extent to which encouragement of assisted suicide—assisted dying, under the terms of the Bill—would be legal or not. The Bill does not decriminalise encouragement either to an assisted suicide, which is an assisted death within the scope of the Bill, or to an unassisted suicide—suicide outside the scope of the Bill, as it were. What we have heard, and certainly the implication of the Bill, is that encouraging either would be illegal in principle. The purpose behind the amendments would be to ensure that the doctors doing the initial assessment are obliged to check and satisfy themselves that there has not been encouragement.

--- Later in debate ---

[Naz Shah]

I am grateful that we have been able to have this conversation as we have done. I share my hon. Friend’s concern. Equally, I am also concerned that we may now not have a judge’s oversight on this. There is potentially an amendment seeking to replace that with a panel of experts, which we will not get to debate until we have seen it.

Returning to amendment 94, tabled by the right hon. Member for Braintree, I have already talked about Professor Allan House’s contribution. The importance of the issue is not lost on the House. This includes people who do not want to take up their children’s time. As the hon. Member for Solihull West and Shirley suggested, there is that conversation to be had with families, no doubt. We speak from the privileged position of being able to have those conversations. In an ideal world, we would all be equal, but we are not.

[Daniel Francis]

The one thing that covid taught me was what my hon. Friend is alluding to. Hon. Members heard yesterday a bit about my family situation. I have a child who will never walk, will always be in nappies, will always need to be fed, and will always need to be dressed. During that period, no carer was allowed in the house, and as people know, my wife was also having chemotherapy —thankfully, she successfully recovered. As the carer, who everyone is reliant on, I saw that power imbalance. Everybody in my house was reliant on me during those three months—no one was allowed in the house, my wife was having chemo and my daughter needed round-the-clock care, so to speak. That is the position, which is why I understand this wording. That is the imbalance, whereby somebody could realise that this change in the law now gives them the power to release the burden of their loved one, not for any other reason—that they want their suffering to end—but because they want their loved one to have their life back. I do not know whether my hon. Friend has any comments on that.