Today, the Committee which is examining the Terminally Ill Adults Bill, heard evidence from a range of experts.
Here’s our summary of the session:
Session 1:
- Sir Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer
- Duncan Burton, Chief Nursing Officer
Sir Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer for England, told the Committee examining assisted dying legislation that “It’s important that the wishes of the patient must be respected, we must think about the wishes of someone in the last six months of their life and their family”.
“The central people here is a person, an average citizen in the last 6 months of their life. What we don’t want is a system that is very difficult for them to navigate so they spend the entire last 6 months of their life, if this bill is passed and they choose to take account of it, essentially stuck in a bureaucratic thicket.
We do need to keep this simple. My view is that the best safeguards are simple safeguards. Overcomplicating actually usually makes a safeguard less certain.”
Whitty highlighted that many of the issues that clinicians will face in this Bill would already be standard training and guidance practices. He said: “It’s a normal part of medical practice to consider issues of consent and mental capacity, and that can include refusing treatment”
Duncan Burton, the Chief Nursing Officer, told the committee: “All of our nursing staff, clinical staff have safeguarding training, that already looks at things like financial coercion or other forms of abuse so that training is already in place and is extensive across social care.”
Chris Whitty told committee members to stick with the Mental Capacity Act when it comes to checking capacity for assisted dying, explaining that it is a normal part of medical practice to consider issues of consent and mental capacity.
Session 2:
- Dr Andrew Green, Chair, BMA Medical Ethics Committee
- Mark Swindells, Assistant Director at the General Medical Council
Dr Andrew Green, Chair was asked if doctors should be prohibited from talking about assisted dying to their patients. He replied: “Please do not pass legislation that makes it harder for doctors to understand their patients.”
He also raised that the training and experience of a doctor was more important than explicitly outlining in the law how many years of practice they must have.
The Committee spoke at length about conscientious objection, allowing doctors to opt out of participating in assisted dying. Committee members and experts pointed to abortion legislation, which has some similarities. Mark Swindells told the committee: “In the case of conscientious objection, it’s important to take the patient’s perspective that they aren’t left with nowhere to go.”
Session 3:
- Glyn Berry Co-Chair at Association of Palliative Care Social Workers
- Professor Nicola Ranger, Royal College of Nursing, Chief Executive and General Secretary.
When asked by Dr Marie Tidball MP: “You would believe that your members would be able to pick up & identify issues like coercion?”, Professor Nicola Ranger said: “I do. They’re professional and I believe they would.”. She told the committee:
“Recognising abuse is the responsibility of every nurse now… It’s a good and simple process. You don’t have to investigate yourself, you have to refer to be investigated. Our job is to be vigilant.”
Professor Nicola said the role of a nurse is to listen and advocate for the patient:
“It’s really listening to what people have to say, having a way to ensure that what an individual wants is something you listen to. I absolutely agree with all the points around safeguards, about all of those things. The whole point of assisted dying is not to be paternalistic, but to respect autonomy, whatever safeguards we ever put in with that we have to be really careful not to ignore that right to autonomy, which is primarily what we are trying to do with this bill.”
Glyn Berry advocated a multi-disciplinary approach:
“Our expertise and strength is being able to ask difficult questions, and really dig into people’s thoughts, feelings and opinions and giving them the opportunity to say things they would have never said in their whole lifetime”
Claire Macdonald, Director of My Death, My Decision says:
“From the evidence given today, it’s clear that the Terminally Ill Adults Bill is workable with current legislation like the Mental Capacity Act and that there’s already extensive guidance and training around safeguarding issues.
It’s also vital that the system takes into account that the person going through it has only a few months to live and should not face “a bureaucratic thicket” as the Chief Medical Officer put it. We must keep things simple.
We are glad that MPs are listening closely to the evidence and the experts, and we hope this Bill will pass its subsequent stages through further respectful and essential debate.”
What’s Next:
This was the first oral evidence session, which will take place over three days and examine nearly 50 witnesses. The sessions will be followed by line-by-line scrutiny of the Bill, where a committee of MPs will look at the details and suggest changes.
Introduced by the Labour MP Kim Leadbeater MBE, the Bill will allow adults who are terminally ill with six months or fewer left to live to ask for help to end their own lives. In November, MPs voted on the principle of this legislation, passing the second reading 330 votes to 275.
The Bill applies to England and Wales only. A private member’s bill in Scotland by Liam McArthur MSP has been introduced in the Scottish Parliament.
Notes:
Members of the MDMD team, as well as individuals affected by the current law on assisted dying, are available for interview upon request
For further comment or information, media should contact Nathan Stilwell at nathan.stilwell@mydeath-mydecision.org.uk or phone 07456200033.
Media can use the following press images and videos, as long as they are attributed to “My Death, My Decision”.
My Death, My Decision is a grassroots campaign group that wants the law in England and Wales to allow mentally competent adults who are terminally ill or intolerably suffering from an incurable condition the option of a legal, safe, and compassionate assisted death. With the support of over 3,000 members and supporters, we advocate for an evidence-based law that would balance individual choice alongside robust safeguards and finally give the people of England and Wales choice at the end of their lives.
