Assisted Dying Bill [HL]

Lord Rees of Ludlow Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 22nd October 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Rees of Ludlow (CB)]

My Lords, very few people consider maximal extension of life, irrespective of its quality, to be a moral imperative. We can choose not to be resuscitated if we have a heart attack; we can decline invasive cancer treatment.

Viewed in this context, the Bill is incremental and circumscribed. It allows those of sound mind with a terminal prognosis to end their lives in a time and place of their choosing, rather than suffer a lingering decline marked by pain and loss of autonomy. That is why some make a one-way trip to Switzerland and why the lives of loved ones are sometimes ended in ways that are strictly illegal. These acts may not result in prosecution, but a shadow of criminality hangs over them and adds to the grief of those whose motive is compassion.

It is a misperception that support for the Bill betokens less admiration for the hospice movement or less motive to enhance palliative care. Likewise, it is a misperception that disabled and vulnerable individuals are less supportive of the Bill than the public at large. My late colleague Stephen Hawking thought that assisted dying would be wrong unless one were in great pain. Thankfully, his own last days were peaceful, but he thought none the less that the disabled should have the option.

We have heard widespread concerns that the vulnerable would be pressured to opt for assisted dying so as not to be a burden—a compelling case—but it is worth mentioning a counterargument. When the great Baroness Mary Warnock spoke in a debate in this House in 2014, she offered a countervailing view:

“All the way through their life until this point, putting their family first will have been counted a virtue, and then suddenly, when they most want to avoid the trouble … sorrow and misery of disruption to their family, they are told they are not allowed to follow that motive.”—[Official Report, 7/11/14; col. 1908.]


She found this “extraordinarily puzzling”.

Baroness Warnock’s robust stancewould resonate with a few of the Bill’s supporters, but we all welcome the Bill from the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher, because it would surely give great comfort to far more of us than would actually use its provisions.