I know that life is precious. It is my belief that we should all have the right to a good life and, where possible, a good death. But we don’t talk about death very much in the UK, which means we don’t talk very much about what a “good death” could, or should, look like.
It’s almost a decade since MPs were last given the chance to vote on the rights and protections available to those in the last months of their lives. A lot has changed in that time, but one thing hasn’t – the heartbreaking lack of choice for those who know that an unbearable and painful death may lay ahead, but who have no power over when or how it occurs.
The law hasn’t changed for more than 60 years. In that time, most of us have thankfully come to live longer and better lives. Medical advances and healthier lifestyles mean, if we’re fortunate, we can live well into our 80s or even longer. But no one goes on for ever. One of the reasons I’m in politics is because I believe everybody should be given the chance and opportunity to live their best possible life for as long as they can. But I also strongly believe that we should give people facing the most unbearable end to their life a choice about what that end is like.
Dame Esther Rantzen has called the current law “a mess”. She’s right, but I would go further. It can be cruel and unjust, not only to terminally ill people but to their families and loved ones, too. I’ve spoken to many of them while deciding what legislation to propose since being given the chance to introduce my private member’s bill to parliament later this month.
Josh Cook lives just outside my constituency of Spen Valley in West Yorkshire. In June, his mum, Lisa, took her own life. She had advanced Huntington’s disease and had secretly been keeping back the morphine she was prescribed for the pain, so she could take it all at once at the time of her choosing. Lisa died alone, before she wanted to, without telling Josh or anyone else because she didn’t want to put them at risk of prosecution for “assisting” her death.
Today, somebody with a terminal condition and very little time left has only bad options. They can suffer in misery and often in great pain as their illness takes their life and dignity from them; travel to Switzerland – usually alone – if they are wealthy enough to pay for it; or take matters into their own hands, as Lisa did, and leave their loved ones to pick up the pieces without being able to say a proper goodbye. When people are already struggling with so much pain, trauma and grief, that simply cannot be right. My bill would offer people like Lisa the comfort of knowing they have a choice over what happens to them – a choice that is not only more just and humane, but also protects everybody involved, whatever decision the patient comes to.
I believe we should have the right to see out our days surrounded by those we love and care for, knowing that when we are gone they can remember us as we would like to be remembered. I also believe that if we were able to spare them any unnecessary trauma and uncertainty, we would want to do that too. But as the law stands, anybody in England, Wales and Northern Ireland who travels with a loved one to Dignitas in Switzerland, or stays with someone to comfort them at home as they end their own life, could be liable to prosecution for “assisting suicide” – an offence that can mean a sentence of up to 14 years. (There is no specific offence of assisting suicide in Scotland, but there is still a risk of being prosecuted for murder, culpable homicide or reckless endangerment if found to have helped a loved one to die.)
As a result, hundreds of people die alone every year. And while the prosecuting guidelines mean there is a presumption against charging someone who acts wholly out of compassion, every death is rightly investigated and people can be left waiting for many months before being told whether they will face court. That cannot be right. The law should offer clarity and protection, not uncertainty and fear.
I have thought long and hard about these issues which I know are hugely emotive for many people. The truth is that we have never been very comfortable discussing death in this country. But I’m sure we all want the best for our relatives and those we care for as they come to the end of their lives. And the evidence from those places around the world that already have legislation of the kind I am proposing is that patients draw enormous comfort from simply knowing they have the right to choose how and when to end their lives, even if they eventually decide not to exercise it.
I believe it’s time for parliament to debate these issues fully, openly and respectfully. Similar legislation is already under consideration in Scotland, the Isle of Man and Jersey. And I know from my conversations with MPs of all parties that there is a strong view across the house that it is time for the same to happen at Westminster.
Having heard the testimonies of people who have lived through the reality of the current situation, I know what it would mean for so many to have the choice of what their final days look like. That is why this bill is about genuine choice and autonomy. But in order to give people that choice, MPs themselves must now decide. It is a heavy responsibility and I feel that myself. But to do nothing would be a decision in itself. One that would leave too many people as they come to the end of their life continuing to suffer in often unbearable pain and fear of what is to come, denied the choice they deserve.
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Kim Leadbeater is Labour MP for Spen Valley
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