Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Lord Dobbs Excerpts

Committee stage
Friday 21st November 2025 Lords Chamber

Both amendments—inserting “encouraged” to put in place some of the protections that the DPP currently uses when assessing whether to prosecute people, and looking at material circumstances and the support vulnerable people get—are vital. I hope both, or variants of them, can find their way into this legislation.

[Lord Dobbs (Con)]

I will just follow up my noble friend’s remarks. He is a noble friend; I campaigned for him several times in his constituency when he was an MP, and I will remain a friend of his, I hope. I want very quickly to follow up on his remarks about what we might call the “Pannick paradox” between the decision to ask for an assisted death and the decision to refuse any further medication or help that will continue your life for a short time. My noble friend is right. They are not the same: a decision to ask for a death when you know that death is inevitable, and one simply to deny any further help or sustenance, with starving yourself to death the only way of achieving that end, are very different. The difference is that if someone is able to ask for a calm, assisted death, they will die with dignity and not in squalor, having forced the system to cut off any hope of further life. My noble friend knows that I do not agree with him on this, but I absolutely believe he is right in saying that there is a fundamental distinction. That is one reason why I support the Bill.

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

It might help noble Lords to know that we are being followed on Twitter. This issue—I am aiming to save time—of the Pannick dilemma has been commented on by Philip Murray, who is a law lecturer at Robinson College in Cambridge. He said the following, and we may wish to seek his advice:

“I find it astonishing that various Lords”—


forgive me for the embarrassment—

“including those who should know better (Lord Pannick …), keep conflating withdrawal of treatment and assisted suicide. The act/omission distinction has underpinned morality and law for millennia”.

I hope that either of the noble Lords, Lord Pannick or Lord Dobbs, will reach out to this gentleman to aid all noble Lords so we will not spend any further time on that dilemma.

Prostate Cancer

Lord Dobbs Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd September 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Dobbs (Con)]

The biopsy was not much fun. Stuck in those stirrups, my dignity dangling in the breeze, a charming lady nurse asked me if I was comfortable. We both agreed that that was a profoundly stupid question and laughed our way through the prodding and the poking.

Prostates raise many questions. I got through it thanks to my GP, Dr James Banfield, and support from others, particularly my noble and very dear friend Lord Kirkham.

Too often, men shy away and leave things too late. We need more encouragement, and perhaps more courage, like that of Sir Chris Hoy. When I was a guest editor of the “Today” programme and devoted it to prostate cancer, I interviewed Bill Turnbull, so full of regrets. He had tried to ignore it. He had only a few months to live. We know it does not need to be that way.

When my turn came, I chose radiotherapy. On day one, I gave the young technicians a large box of House of Lords chocolates. “What’s that for?”, they asked. I told them it was to encourage them to aim straight. That was five years ago. I caught it early, which is the key, not only to an extended life but to one without the mucky, yucky side effects, which is not possible without supportive GPs and timely testing. Testing may not be foolproof, but it is better than being a fool. So I am grateful to my noble friend for this short debate. We are helping save lives.