Contributions
1,183 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-fifth sitting)I am grateful to my hon. Friend. I was simply asking what causes him to object to physician-administered assistance to die. If he supports the principle of assisted suicide and…18 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-fifth sitting)I was not suggesting that pentobarbital has a paralytic effect. Often in assisted dying, a paralytic is administered first as part of the cocktail of drugs. Subsequently, we…18 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-fifth sitting)I am supportive of all the amendments in this grouping, including amendment 255 in the name of the hon. Member for Filton and Bradley Stoke (Claire Hazelgrove) about the…18 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-fifth sitting)I am absolutely certain that if the amendment had been in the original Bill, the Bill would not have passed Second Reading, because it would have validated the argument that many…18 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-fifth sitting)Will the hon. Gentleman give way?18 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-fourth sitting)My point is that it is very difficult to draw a line here. I recognise the scenario that my hon. Friend raises: why should a nurse not be able to hold a straw for a person to…18 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-fifth sitting)I agree.18 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-fifth sitting)I am grateful that the Minister is allowing us to push him on this, because it is crucial. This is the moment beyond which there is no return. He thinks that helping a patient to…18 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-fourth sitting)This group of amendments contains two sub-groups that I shall deal with separately. Amendment 462, in my name, and amendments 497 and 498, in the name of the hon. Member for Spen…18 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-fourth sitting)I am grateful to the hon. Lady. I hear what she has said; we have had this conversation before. I am afraid that I do insist on my right to use the English language accurately.…18 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-fourth sitting)I very much respect the hon. Lady’s intention, and I support the amendments. On clause 16, however, I must take the opportunity to express a certain concern. The clause applies…18 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-fifth sitting)Let me come on to that, because I am not aware of any evidence from Dignitas that disputes the assertion that is being made—certainly none that would meet the concerns raised by…18 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-fifth sitting)Yes. We discussed this briefly this morning. There is an important consideration about the effect on medical staff involved in the administration of assisted suicide, and we have…18 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-fourth sitting)I absolutely recognise that the hon. Lady has every intention of insisting that the system works well, that doctors do their job and that good record keeping happens. My concern…18 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-fifth sitting)I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention, because that is exactly the sort of organisation that I would expect to have an objection to assisted dying taking place in its…18 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-fourth sitting)The hon. Lady is quite right that there is nothing to object to in these amendments or the clause. It is worth stating at this point, though, that in the context of the debate we…18 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-fourth sitting)I will speak briefly to amendment 316 in the name of the hon. Member for York Central (Rachael Maskell). She has tabled a sensible suggestion that if a patient makes a statement…18 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-fourth sitting)I am speaking to the group as a whole, which includes clause stand part. I have no objection to the amendments. My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. As I said, the…18 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-fourth sitting)Before I give way to my right hon. Friend, I want to posit the hypothesis of a private provider that has been established explicitly for the purpose of facilitating the assisted…18 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-fifth sitting)My strong suspicion is that this is because the evidence is not being accurately collected or reported. With Dignitas and in all these jurisdictions, as the hon. Lady has…18 Mar 2025