Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-ninth sitting)

Neil Shastri-Hurst Excerpts

Committee stage
Tuesday 25th March 2025 Public Bill Committees

[Rebecca Paul]

I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.

The new clause would make the advertising of services by a co-ordinating and/or independent doctor by a person in the course of a business an offence with a sentence of up to two years in prison or a fine or both. As we have discussed previously, we will likely see private provision of assisted dying services, if the Bill is approved. That will create a potentially lucrative opportunity for private businesses, particularly if provision on the NHS is not consistent across the country or is overwhelmed.

“Advertising” means the techniques used to bring attention to a product or service with the aim of presenting it as something a potential customer might need or want. The overarching aim of advertising by a business is to ultimately sell more of a product or service. We must keep that overarching reason in mind when considering the amendment. It would be incredibly inappropriate for such services to be advertised on billboards, public transport or daytime telly, targeting those who may be approaching the end of their life, with ads run repeatedly along with those for stairlifts and life insurance. Such advertising could also undermine our national suicide prevention strategy by normalising suicide in certain situations. It becomes much harder to say to people that suicide is not the answer if we are content to say that it is in certain situations.

I can only imagine some of the difficult conversations that could be generated from an advert seen by a young girl or boy already battling with suicidal thoughts. How does a parent or guardian explain why suicide is not right for them? Imagine the potential impact on men, too. As we all know, suicide is a leading cause of death in men in this country. In 2022, for males between the ages of 20 and 34, one in four deaths was categorised as “intentional self-harm” or “event of undetermined intent”. That is a shocking statistic. That is why banning the advertising of such services is so important.

[Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst (Solihull West and Shirley) (Con)]

My hon. Friend is making an passionate argument. I think most of us would agree that billboards and television adverts would be egregious. I note that subsection (3) talks about “electronic form”. That could involve email correspondence between parties. How would that not be an advertisement under the amendment?

[Rebecca Paul]

I think we would be talking about an advert via electronic form, marketing a particular service. We would have to go back to the meaning of “advert” to answer that. Obviously, there are broader ways of advertising on social media and so on, which I also seek to prevent with the amendment.

That is why banning the advertising of such services is so important, so that a pro-suicide message is not inadvertently delivered to millions of people who assisted dying is not appropriate for. We have to recognise that there are vulnerable people out there who could be influenced by it. It is my view that conversations about assisted dying should happen in person, between the relevant doctor and the patient; they should not be prompted by a TV ad or something seen on a bus. Ads should not be coming up on someone’s Facebook feed every time they log on.

I hope Committee members will support this common-sense amendment. I think that for it to be properly effective, it needs to be expanded to also cover clinics or other organisations advertising assisted dying services more broadly. I very much welcome the opportunity to work with Ministers and the Bill’s sponsor to get this right, if the Committee is disposed to supporting such an amendment.