Kim Leadbeater, the MP sponsoring the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life Choices) Bill, has proposed to replace the role of the High Court in the Bill with a Voluntary Assisted Dying Commission and expert panels. Humanists UK has welcomed this proposal.
The role of the High Court and its workability has been repeatedly challenged by retired judges such as James Munby, Nicholas Mostyn, and others, on the basis that the Court doesn’t have capacity and that it wouldn’t provide additional safety. Now Ms Leadbeater is to propose a Voluntary Assisted Dying Commission, led by a High Court judge or senior former judge. It would oversee all cases and report each year on the number of applications and how many were approved or rejected.
It would also appoint expert panels, with each applicant for assisted dying going to a panel for a decision after sign-off by two doctors. The panel would be chaired by a senior lawyer or retired judge and also feature a psychiatrist and a social worker.
The only other country with assisted dying that requires more than two doctors to sign off on each decision is Spain. Its ‘third layer’ of scrutiny is a tribunal, which operates similarly to what Leadbeater is now proposing.
The amendment is expected to be submitted tomorrow.
Humanists UK Chief Executive Andrew Copson commented:
‘This amendment is good news. The High Court proposal was unworkable in the demands it placed on the state and provided no meaningful additional safety. This new proposal will routinely bring in relevant expertise while solving those workability problems.’
Notes:
For further comment or information, media should contact Humanists UK Director of Public Affairs and Policy Richy Thompson at press@humanists.uk or phone 0203 675 0959.
Humanists UK has people and their loved ones who would be affected by this change available for the press.
If you have been affected by the current assisted dying legislation, and want to use your story to support a change in the law, please email campaigns@humanists.uk.
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Humanists defend the right of each individual to live by their own personal values, and the freedom to make decisions about their own life so long as this does not result in harm to others. Humanists do not share the attitudes to death and dying held by some religious believers, in particular that the manner and time of death are for a deity to decide, and that interference in the course of nature is unacceptable. We firmly uphold the right to life but we recognise that this right carries with it the right of each individual to make their own judgement about whether their life should be prolonged in the face of pointless suffering.
We recognise that any assisted dying law must contain strong safeguards, but the international evidence from countries where assisted dying is legal shows that safeguards can be effective. We also believe that the choice of assisted dying should not be considered an alternative to palliative care, but should be offered together as in many other countries.
Read more about Humanists UK’s campaign to legalise assisted dying in the UK.
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