Terminally ill teacher urges MPs to back assisted dying bill

A terminally ill teacher has urged MPs to stand together Kim Leadbeater’s assisted dying billsaying legislation would offer people choice “in their darkest hour.”

Nathaniel Dye, who has terminal cancer, said the bill is an opportunity to “act with kindness.”

It comes as the Labor MP behind the legislation said she expects assisted death to be used by only hundreds of people each year.

Ms Leadbeater said evidence from around the world shows that between 0.5 per cent and 3 per cent of deaths would be covered by the legislation.

MPs are preparing for one historic vote on this issue end of this month.

Speaking at a press conference in Westminster, Mr Dye said: “I see this as an opportunity to act with kindness and as a choice for people in their darkest hours.

“I’m not a doctor, I’m not a lawyer, but I would implore MPs and colleagues to really consider these safeguards carefully because I think this is the best sentence I have: my death depends on it.”

MPs are offered a free vote about the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which claims to be the “most robust” in the world.

Only terminally ill adults who have less than six months to live and a firm desire to end their life are eligible.

Ms Leadbeater said her proposed legislation was the only plan in the world with “three layers of scrutiny” – a signature by two doctors and one High Court judge.

She said the proposed legislation for England and Wales would provide the “safest choice” for mentally competent adults at the end of life, and stressed that it is robust enough to protect against coercion.

Sir Max Hill, former Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), said the legislation is a “once in a lifetime opportunity” for Parliament to act in the public interest.

He told the press conference in Westminster that the current arrangement encourages people to travel to Dignitas in Switzerland if they have money, or for relatives to consider helping their loved ones die against the law if they cannot make the journey.

Sir Max said: “These two reasons certainly add up to an irrefutable argument that the law currently provides no safeguards, no rails, no guidance and is leaving the vulnerable in a dire situation.

“When I look at the bill that has just been released, there are safeguards everywhere on every page and at every stage.

“All I’m saying is that once we get past November 29 and the second reading of this bill, it will provide a unique opportunity for Parliament, which is acting in all our interests, to scrutinize every word, every line and every clause in this bill.”

He warned that the current law “does not protect patients, does not protect doctors and does not protect society.”

It came after Lord Falconer warned that the current law is “completely broken”, claiming the DPP will not prosecute those who help loved ones end their lives if they are motivated by compassion.

“The law needs to change urgently, but there must be safeguards,” he said.

Ministers are divided over the bill, with Energy Secretary Ed Miliband saying on Tuesday he supported the move to make assisted suicide legal.

But the two state secretaries who will be responsible for a new law have expressed their opposition.

Health Minister Wes Streeting has said he plans to vote against the bill because he is concerned about coercion and people feeling they have a “duty to die.”

Shabana Mahmood, the justice minister, has also spoken out against assisted dying and voted against it in 2015.

Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said caring for his dying mother as a teenager convinced him of assisted suicide. He said he fears that the terminally ill, people with disabilities and others “could be under real psychological pressure to end their lives.”

His mother had been in a lot of pain towards the end of her life, he said, revealing that she had a “very, very painful disease”.

But he said it was during those last days that I came to the conclusion that we shouldn’t have this… we should focus on better palliative care.

However, Mr Dye criticized the suggestion that improvements in palliative care would be the answer.

“Imagine that I die and palliative care has not improved. Well, I don’t have any choice: I die in pain or I die in pain,” he said.