Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, the gold medal-winning Paralympic athlete who now sits in the House of Lords, has today told a House of Lords select committee that the proposed assisted suicide legislation in England and Wales is “a danger to disabled people”.
The House of Lords assisted suicide Bill select committee held its fourth session today, allowing a select group of Peers to interrogate and cross-examine the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill through expert witnesses.
The Bill, which would legalise assisted suicide in England and Wales for those with a prognosis of six months or less, is currently undergoing this additional scrutiny after two-thirds of Peers who took a position spoke in opposition to the Bill during its Second Reading in the Upper House. The commencement of the Bill’s formal Committee Stage is delayed until the select committee has reported.
One of the key witnesses, Baroness Grey-Thompson, said the Bill is “a danger to disabled people”.
“It would be very easy for disabled people to have it suggested to them that [assisted suicide] is a route to choose”, she continued, due to “problems with health and social care, you can’t get the care you need, you’re living in poor housing”.
Baroness Grey-Thompson stated, “We are told that, you know, it’s not for disabled people, but there are a range of conditions that would very easily fit into a terminal diagnosis, like cystic fibrosis”.
She added that, for people with disabilities like her, if they developed a pressure sore that did not heal, they could easily be given a six-month prognosis, and thereby be eligible for state assistance in suicide.
“There is no organisation of or for disabled people that supports this legislation”, she continued, reiterating the overwhelming view of groups representing disabled people that this Bill is dangerous.
She explained that the more people know about what the assisted suicide Bill entails, the more likely they are to oppose it.
“Support drops the more people understand about it”, she said, “certainly when you start talking about complications, time to death, change in jurisdiction”.
Claiming that a six-month prognosis is a safeguard against abuse is wrong, Baroness Grey-Thompson states
Baroness Grey-Thompson went on to highlight that the eligibility criteria for assisted suicide under this Bill, which includes the requirement for a six-month prognosis, is often used by Bill supporters as evidence of a safeguard, but in reality, it is “arbitrary”.
“Six months is quite arbitrary”, Baroness Grey-Thompson said. “Doctors are taking the best guess they can”.
“I don’t think it protects disabled people in any way at all”, she said.
Baroness Grey-Thompson explained that she knows parents who are “terrified” about how their 40-year-old child, who lives with Down’s syndrome, will be treated if they outlive them, and they are no longer around to help advocate for him. This is particularly concerning as Parliament is debating legalising assisted suicide, with many worried about people with disabilities being coerced or pressured into ending their lives.
She went on to explain, “We do have to be mindful of other jurisdictions that have changed from six months to 12 months, they’ve expanded either through the court system or through legislation, that [safeguards] will be eroded”.
She also highlighted her concerns that there may be doctors who “turn a blind eye” to this requirement for a six-month prognosis.
People who seek assisted suicide are suicidal, Baroness Grey-Thompson reiterates
Baroness Grey-Thompson explained that people are more likely to take their own lives at tube stations near hospitals after receiving a terminal diagnosis, challenging the idea that those thought to be terminally ill are not suicidal.
“I sat on the Board of Transport for London for ten years”, she said. “We put additional safeguards in around all the tube stations near hospitals because that’s where there were a higher number of suicides immediately post-prognosis”.
There is also the issue of the legalisation of assisted suicide leading to a decrease in palliative care funding. Baroness Grey-Thompson explained that in 20 countries without assisted suicide, palliative care funding rose by 25%. In states where assisted suicide has been legalised, however, funding for palliative care has only risen by 7.9% in the same period.
After the select committee has reported, the assisted suicide Bill will enter its Committee Stage from 14 November. This entails a detailed line-by-line examination of the Bill, starting from the front and working through to the end. All proposed amendments have to be considered, and Peers can discuss issues for as long as they wish.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “It was heartening to hear Baroness Grey-Thompson’s emotive critique of the assisted suicide Bill. The Bill, as she rightly highlighted, is rife with flaws, and it places the lives of society’s most vulnerable in jeopardy”.
“Many expert witnesses have made clear these issues, yet some are still not convinced by the danger this legislation poses. Peers at the next stage of the parliamentary process must come together and reject this Bill”.
