Daventry MP says anxiety around Assisted Dying Bill has deepened
Stuart Andrew says we have yet to have a proper debate on what good quality palliative care looks like in this country.
A Northamptonshire MP says his anxieties around a bill allowing terminally ill adults to end their lives as deepened.
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, known as the Assisted Dying Bill, returns to the House of Commons later, for the first time since a historic yes vote in November.
During that vote Daventry Conservative MP Stuart Andrew voted against it.
He tells us a debate about palliative care is what is needed, and that we are 'leapfrogging' to the issue of assisted dying.
Stuart has experience of working in hospices:
"I remember patients, older patients sort of saying feeling that they've become a burden to their family, where the family would be like. No, no, no. You know, obviously we want as much time as we can with you.
"I'm worried there are some that may feel that they have become a burden and this is the only alternative because we haven't got had that proper debate on on palliative care.
"But as time has gone on and we're hearing more and more professionals saying they have concerns with the bill. My anxiety about it, I think, has actually deepened rather than being reassured."
Stuart says this is a difficult debate and he's affected by many constituents stories who back the Bill:
"I have met with constituents who actually very much in favour of the of the bill and have told me about harrowing experiences that their loved ones had had when they came to the end of their life.
"Now, I can't help but be affected by those stories and I do think about each of those constituents each time we discuss this."
The Daventry MP says though most of his correspondents from constituents is urging him to vote against the Bill.
It is not yet clear whether time will allow for a third reading vote, with the possibility that the report stage could instead run into a second day next month due to the large number of further amendments which have been proposed.
Assisted Dying
A cross-party group of MPs with medical and clinical backgrounds has urged colleagues in Parliament to support the Bill, which they say now has "stronger protections and solid cross-party support".
Their appeal followed what was been branded by one opponent as a "blow to (the Bill's) foundations", when the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) announced late on Tuesday that it has "serious concerns" and cannot support the proposed legislation in its current form.
The college, which is the professional medical body for psychiatrists, said it has "unanswered questions" about the safeguarding of people with mental illness.
RCPsych, which remains neutral on the principle of assisted dying, has also warned of a shortage of consultant psychiatrists to meet the demands of a Bill which would currently require a psychiatrist to sit on a three-member panel alongside a social worker and senior legal figure to assess a terminally ill person's application.
Reports speculating on the numbers of MPs who had supported the Bill last year but are now considering voting against it have been dismissed by the Bill's backers who reject the idea the proposed legislation is at risk of collapse.
The Prime Ministers view
The Prime Minister was one of those who voted in favour of the Bill in November, and signalled yesterday that his mind has not changed on the matter.
Speaking during a visit to Albania, Sir Keir was asked if his views on assisted dying had changed during the passage of the Bill.
He told broadcasters: "I do understand there are different views, strongly held views on both sides that have to be respected."
Pressed for his current opinion, Sir Keir said: "My views have been consistent throughout."
A statement, signed by supportive MPs including doctors Neil Shastri-Hurst, Simon Opher and Peter Prinsley, said the law must change.
They said: "In our experience, most healthcare professionals understand that the current law is not working. It criminalises compassion and forces dying people into situations no civilised healthcare system should accept: unbearable pain, unmitigated suffering, or the traumatic decision to end their lives overseas.
"Too often clinicians are placed in an impossible position, where supporting their patients to access choice overseas would mean risking their careers by breaking the law.
"As doctors and clinicians, we would not tolerate such a system in any other area of care. As parliamentarians, we cannot defend it now."
Dozens of amendments have been tabled and many could be debated and voted on during a five-hour sitting in the Commons on Friday.
As it stands, the Bill would allow only terminally ill adults in England and Wales, with fewer than six months to live, to apply for an assisted death - subject to approval by two doctors and the three-member expert panel.
If you need to talk to someone you can call the Samaritans on 116 123, email [email protected] or visit their website www.samaritans.org.