Contributions
303 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Fifteenth sitting)My hon. Friend will recall that we heard evidence from doctors from Victoria, which has a so-called gag clause; I think it was Dr Furst who said that that was “really…26 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Fifteenth sitting)No, I do not agree. The GMC guidance in many ways talks about not accepting treatment. It is equally as useful in situations involving the withdrawal of treatments and the end of…26 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Fifteenth sitting)My hon. Friend and I may need to agree to disagree on this point. Clearly, I agree that this is a significant landmark legislation, which is different from many other forms of…26 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Fifteenth sitting)I accept that clause 4(1) rightly sets out that no medical practitioner is under an obligation to raise the subject of assisted dying, but that is not what amendment 50 is about;…26 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Fifteenth sitting)I was not intending to, but I will speak very briefly to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Ipswich. I agree that what is set out in amendment 50 is entirely sensible and I…26 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Fourteenth sitting)Does my hon. Friend agree that clause 8(6), which requires the second doctor to be independent of the first—they must not be “a partner or colleague in the same practice or…26 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Fourteenth sitting)I know that we have interacted before about our fundamental difference on the ventilator test: someone saying, “I want to die, please turn off my ventilator” as opposed to, “I…26 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Fourteenth sitting)I share the concerns of my hon. Friend the Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford about the use of DNRs—what happened during covid to people, particularly those with disabilities,…26 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Thirteenth sitting)I rise to speak in favour of the current, tightly drawn eligibility criterion of a six-month terminal diagnosis. I agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Bradford West that that…25 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Thirteenth sitting)I want to come back to the Bill as drafted. The key factor in clause 2, for me, is the focus on terminality. That is what determines eligibility: that death is reasonably expected…25 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twelfth sitting)On that point, I will quote directly from Chris Whitty’s evidence to the Committee: “there are people who may not have a single disease that is going to lead to the path to death,…25 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Thirteenth sitting)That is not my understanding, and I have sought some clarification, including from Professor Hoyano, who provided oral evidence to us, and I believe that that was not her…25 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Thirteenth sitting)No, I will make some progress. I feel that the amendment risks pressuring people to accept courses of intervention against their will, and I do not think it is consistent with the…25 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Thirteenth sitting)The examples that the hon. Lady gives of the refusal of life-preserving treatment—for example, stopping insulin—would inevitably lead to death, so why does she believe that anyone…25 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Thirteenth sitting)I do, and I thank my hon. Friend for bringing my attention to that; I was struggling to put my hands on it. In my view, clause 2 does a difficult job very well in tightly drawing…25 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Thirteenth sitting)I rise to speak briefly in opposition to the amendments. When the chief medical officer gave oral evidence to the Committee, the hon. Member for Richmond Park asked him: “Is it…25 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Thirteenth sitting)Does my hon. Friend accept that nearly all those cases were in jurisdictions whose schemes bear no resemblance to the one proposed in the Bill?25 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Thirteenth sitting)Sensible amendments have been tabled elsewhere in the Bill—not to the clause that we are debating—that would strengthen the initial conversations and ensure that people make…25 Feb 2025HANSARDBreakfast Clubs: Early AdoptersI know that my right hon. Friend and constituency neighbour, the Secretary of State, is personally committed to delivering the best start to life for children in Sunderland, and I…24 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Tenth sitting)Can I just clarify something? As my hon. Friend the Member for Penistone and Stocksbridge said, I understand that “undue influence” has an existing meaning, but only in equity…12 Feb 2025