Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
Debate between Kim Leadbeater and Lola McEvoy(3 weeks, 5 days ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Kim Leadbeater
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We keep coming back to the word “choice”. It is about choice for patients and terminally ill people, but it is also about choice for medical professionals and others.
Because of the unintended consequences, I cannot support amendment (a), but I am confident that new clause 10 and new schedule 1 provide robust protections for employees, regardless of their choices about participating in the provision of assisted dying services.
Lola McEvoy (Darlington) (Lab)
Would my hon. Friend mind elaborating on the detail of the transferring of medical records? It is my understanding that someone can request their own medical records as a patient.
Kim Leadbeater
The patient could request information, but so could doctors and other healthcare professionals. It would be wrong if people were not allowed to share that information if it was requested, even if their employer did not want them to do it.
I turn now to new clause 11 and consequential amendments 64 and 65, which will ensure that the Bill is workable by making provision about the replacement of the co-ordinating doctor or the independent doctor where they are unable or unwilling to continue to carry out their functions in the Bill. The doctor may be ill or on holiday, retire, or have a change of personal circumstances.