Contributions
308 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Nineteeth sitting)I thank the hon. Lady for making this point, which is important, although probably not specifically relevant to what we are talking about in general with regard to making the Bill…05 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eighteenth sitting)There are examples. Appraising other doctors, for instance, is specified as a job that doctors are trained for, and it is paid at a set rate agreed with the Department of Health…05 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eighteenth sitting)Exactly. That is what worries me. I acknowledge what the hon. Member for East Wiltshire said about pharmaceutical sponsorship, but I do not think that has anything to do with what…05 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eighteenth sitting)I thank the hon. Member for East Wiltshire for the amendment. The set-up of this scheme is similar to other NHS services. Essentially, a medical professional will opt in to…05 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Sixteenth sitting)As far as I see, under the Bill there is an initial discussion when a patient who is requesting assisted dying goes to see a medical practitioner. It does not specify what type of…04 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Sixteenth sitting)Again, this is a really interesting part of the Bill. If a doctor is routinely giving prognoses of six months where that is not appropriate, they will come up against the General…04 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Sixteenth sitting)I absolutely agree. We are imagining that the doctors will all be independent and will not know anything about what other doctors have said, but there will be communication and…04 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Sixteenth sitting)What my hon. Friend points out is absolutely true. The Bill’s drafting is simple but very effective. For prognosis, for example, it says that it is “reasonably…expected within 6…04 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Sixteenth sitting)Again, I bring my hon. Friend back to the fact that this is a Bill in law, and what we have to guide us as doctors is the General Medical Council, which sets standards for…04 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Sixteenth sitting)I just do not think it will strengthen the Bill. I thank you for your intervention. It is a moot point.04 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Sixteenth sitting)Sorry, Mr Efford. I do not deny that the hon. Member makes a good point, but if we embroider this too much, the Bill will not be safe. That has been the case throughout. Any good…04 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Sixteenth sitting)I will briefly go through my impressions of the amendments. A lot of amendments in this group call to mind one of the difficulties that we are having in Committee, which is about…04 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Fourteenth sitting)On tightening capacity assessments, which is what the amendment is trying to do, I would point out that there are a number of amendments coming up that would mandate training for…26 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Fourteenth sitting)As my hon. Friend the Member for Spen Valley said, there are eight different opportunities for assessing capacity in the process, the last of which is before the patient takes the…26 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Fourteenth sitting)It does reassure me, and I think it should reassure other Committee members. Having eight different people doing a capacity assessment is a very thorough safeguard for capacity.…26 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Fourteenth sitting)I feel that the Committee has been through these points quite extensively. There is clearly a disagreement in our beliefs; I accept that, but it is very important to make the Bill…26 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Fourteenth sitting)I think that in most cases mental capacity is very well understood, and it is very clear, as I have said. I would say that, as practising clinicians, almost every GP has to do it.…26 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Fourteenth sitting)It is really important to understand that for the majority of people mental capacity can be assessed reasonably quickly because it is very clear whether they have it or do not…26 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Fourteenth sitting)I understand what the amendment is trying to do; my argument is that it will not achieve that because it will muddy the waters of a mental capacity assessment, which will make how…26 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Fourteenth sitting)Well, that was disputed by other psychiatrists. We are asking questions about whether the Mental Capacity Act is safe and correct for the Bill. This whole Committee is about…26 Feb 2025