Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
Debate between Naz Shah and Rupa Huq(3 days, 6 hours ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Dr Huq
No, because I will not get any more time.
Given the cost of care, people could convince themselves that elderly relatives would be better off out of the way, in order to get the younger generation on the ladder.
We know from the experience of other places that once assisted dying is allowed, the scope broadens—depressed 12-year-olds in Holland can get it—and the incentive to fix palliative care will lessen. Why now, with the state of the NHS? What of Suicide Prevention Week? Yes, we know that public opinion is in favour of assisted dying, but public opinion also supports bringing back hanging.
Dr Huq
No, I am not giving way.
At my advice surgery, people have pointed out the unfairness of the £10,000 cost of Dignitas. We know that the status quo is imperfect, but let us not remedy it with something that will make things worse. We need to get this 100% right if we are going to do it all.
Although well intentioned, the Bill has too much room for error, manipulation, misapplication and unintended consequences. Six months to live is impossible to predict and, with life and death, it is too late to change your mind after the latter has happened, is it not? This week, 1,000 doctors have argued that it will widen inequalities and it is simply not safe. These amendments strengthen the Bill by taking ethnic minorities into account, when hitherto they have been completely unacknowledged by it. They must be incorporated into any assisted dying legislation, but the best thing of all would be not to rush down this road with indecent haste in the first place, because it is so littered with obstacles.