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2,107 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Fifteenth sitting)The Minister can correct me if I am wrong, but my understanding is that there are extra checks in specific circumstances, on top of the MCA, as the hon. Member for Bexleyheath and…26 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Fifteenth sitting)I want to reiterate briefly a point that we have made previously. The more we seek to police the conversations between medics and patient, the more guarded those conversations may…26 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Fourteenth sitting)Amendment 50 requires that whoever is medically assessing capacity is also able to understand the legal implications. The final point of the amendment says that they have to…26 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Thirteenth sitting)I just want to illustrate to the Committee that people with eating disorders, certainly as they come towards the end of their life, are already subject to quite assertive action…25 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Thirteenth sitting)I stand to be corrected, but my understanding is that in the seminal case that the hon. Lady is talking about, the case of The NHS Trust vs. L, the court decided not to force-feed…25 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Thirteenth sitting)It is the other way around.25 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Thirteenth sitting)My understanding is that it is the other way around. In all but one case, force-feeding was decided by the courts. In the case the hon. Lady is referring to, L, the court did…25 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Thirteenth sitting)Forgive me, Mr Dowd—I was trying to be pithy.25 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Thirteenth sitting)Just to clarify, what I said earlier was slightly incorrect—I misread my briefing. While the hon. Lady may be right that the court decided not to proceed with force-feeding, a…25 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twelfth sitting)Let me give a quick example. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is described as a condition rather than a disease or an illness. ALS is not dissimilar to motor neurone disease, but…25 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twelfth sitting)That is a misrepresentation.25 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twelfth sitting)I just want to quickly point out that we have a check on the conversations that happen in the first stages. In clause 8, which covers the second doctor’s assessment, that second…25 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting)That is not my interpretation of the Bill, no. I would not be content for that to be somebody’s primary purpose—of course not. My point remains: we run into dangerous ground when…12 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting)That is exactly my point, and the point on which I was going to conclude. All of the Bill is designed to put control in the hands of dying people as they face what they regard as…12 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting)I am not sure that that would be perfectly acceptable under the Bill; I would be interested to hear what clause my hon. Friend has in mind. As we have discussed, financial…12 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting)For clarity, is my hon. Friend saying that he supports the amendments because he believes that the only reason that someone should have an assisted death is to avoid physical…12 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting)The Bill makes it quite obvious that the doctor would not regard that as a legitimate reason to give people an assisted death, if that was their only purpose. As we said before,…12 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting)It would depend on the circumstances of whether the doctor perceived that the request was made under pressure or coercion. Pressure or coercion can be financial as well as…12 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting)We need to think about this in practical terms. If the word “encouraged” is included in the Bill, a co-ordinating doctor may feel that it is their duty to say to somebody, “Has…12 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting)I have listened very carefully to the hon. Member, who represents the fine town of Bradford, and to her personal experiences, which have coloured her view. I understand that of…12 Feb 2025