Coroners and Justice Bill

I have put my name to the amendment. The noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, has so completely described it that I would like to make just a couple of points and hope that I will be extremely brief in doing so. I shall reply to the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mackay, with regard to whether the Bill provides safeguards. It is perfectly plain from the first subsection that the only conduct to be deemed not criminal is: ""An act by an individual … done solely or principally for the purpose of enabling or assisting"," someone, ""to travel to a country or territory in which assisted dying is lawful"." If anything more than that is done, it would not be covered by the amendment, so anything done in bad faith or in the way of improper pressure or coercion would be ruled out by the defence that the amendment provides. That is the only kind of conduct that is to be treated as not, ""encouraging or assisting the suicide or attempted suicide of another adult"." The safeguard of two registered medical practitioners says that they must be, ""independent of each other … have certified that they are of the opinion in good faith that"," the person "is terminally ill"—that is a matter on which two independent doctors should be perfectly capable of certifying—and, as under the Mental Capacity Act, ""has the capacity to make the declaration under subsection (2)"." Again, I see no problem in two independent doctors being able to decide whether someone has that capacity; I shall be corrected by those who are medically qualified, which I am not. To deal with the next point made by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mackay of Clashfern, I say that if the person changes their mind after making the declaration, of course they are entirely free to do so. Nothing in the amendment limits that in any way. The safeguard applies only to those who are terminally ill, have exercised free choice and wish to travel to a country where assisting suicide would be lawful. The question that I respectfully suggest should be asked and answered is: why is that not preferable to the present situation, where the loved ones of someone who wishes to end their life because they are terminally ill must risk prosecution, unless the Director of Public Prosecutions decides in that case that he will not prosecute? Why should the operation of the law have to depend on the DPP’s discretion? The Court of Appeal indicated in the Purdy case that it is for Parliament, not the court, to answer those questions. If ever there were a case in which legislation needed to be reasonably clear, it is legislation of this kind, where one needs to know whether what one is doing is criminal. I see the amendment as providing a safeguard that is now needed. A former client of mine—Annie Lindsell—had MND, did not wish to go into a hospice, did not wish to have a peg put in her throat towards the end of her life and wished to exercise her personal autonomy as a disabled person to die when she chose. Were she now alive, she would know that, under the amendment, if she wished to end her life and was totally paralysed and unable to exercise autonomy in any other way, she could go to Switzerland, accompanied by the magnificent two men who looked after her at the end of her life, and die with dignity. I entirely understand the concern expressed by many—including the noble Baroness, Lady Campbell, who I am sure will wish to speak to the amendment—that the right of everyone to life is fundamental and that the disabled are as worthy in all respects of life and all that it means as someone who is not disabled. If I thought that the amendment would make the rights of the disabled less worthy of consideration than now, I would be totally opposed to it. Someone who is terminally ill with MND is disabled, in the sense that there will come a time when they are totally paralysed and unable to do anything for themselves. If they wish to end their life, that is a personal choice for them. The disabled should not be treated less favourably in their personal choice and autonomy than those who are not disabled. We can all go to Switzerland and kill ourselves if we wish to do so and, since the Suicide Act, we can all commit suicide in this country if we wish to do so, but those who cannot exercise personal autonomy in the end are the most seriously disabled who are terminally ill. They would get support from the amendment in knowing that, if they wished to exercise their personal choice, they could do so with their loved ones around them. I regard the amendment as a humanitarian measure of a limited and moderate kind. It does not seek to do what the Bill of the noble Lord, Lord Joffe, did. I agree with the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, that if it did something of that kind it would be a matter for full consultation and full debate. All that the amendment would do is provide a safeguard in a narrow set of circumstances.