from Better Way
Kim Leadbeater’s Assisted Dying Bill should be opposed at Third Reading due to a watering down of safeguards and inadequate scrutiny, MPs have heard.
Specialists in disability, law, medicine, and other disciplines have signed a letter to MPs raising concerns about the bill as it nears the end of Committee scrutiny.
In their letter, the experts say that they are “acutely concerned” by recent developments, including a U-turn on High Court oversight of assisted death cases.
Sign-off by a High Court judge was a key aspect of the bill that was emphasised by campaigners before a narrow majority of MPs voted to progress it last year.
This month, Ms Leadbeater and her allies voted to scrap the High Court judge check in favour of assisted dying panels involving certain professionals.
The experts say the new proposal “carries significant implications for already overburdened professionals, and many stakeholders feel that it is unworkable”.
They add: “The bill is an altogether different and less robust piece of legislation as a consequence of [the High Court judge sign-off] being removed”.
The letter also states that scrutiny has been heavily weighted, give a “strong majority of bill supporters” on the committee of MPs tasked with overseeing it.
It adds that “changes mooted by the bill’s sponsor have gone through with ease”, whereas “amendments put forward by more critical MPs to address concerns have been rejected”, including moves to protect people with depression, anorexia and intellectual disabilities.
The experts also point to what they call “unsolvable problems” with the bill, including the threat of “vulnerable citizens being subjected to subtle, and invisible coercion”.