argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Assisted Dying Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2021-10-22
Topic: Health
Stephen Sherbourne (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I have two stories about two people. One was a very good friend of mine, who was diagnosed many years ago with motor neurone disease and suffered the inevitable long and miserable decline as he lost his bodily functions. He was remarkable: he wanted to live and he had the most positive spirit. At one stage, just a few months before he died, he wrote the most incredible and upbeat article about life for the Daily Telegraph—it took him months to write because he had to use a screen of an alphabet with his eyes. It was the triumph of spirit over a declining mind and body The second story is about a friend of mine who, almost three years ago, in January 2019, was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour. She was told in uncompromising terms by her consultant to prepare for end of life. I was in her house in January, on a Sunday morning, when she was distressed and distraught and said that she wanted to end it all. She had been a distinguished medical practitioner in her own field and had been very highly regarded, extremely active and very much in control of her own life. She said that she did not want to end her life with loss of dignity and independence and lots of suffering, and asked, "What are you doing about it?" I said that we were doing everything that we could to help. She said: "I want to end it." I did not have the courage to say to her: "The reason you cannot end it is that society has said that you cannot. Society has decided that it knows better than you. Even though this is the most important decision that anybody can take about their own life, society has said: ‘You are denied that choice and you have to suffer.’" I cannot accept that; it is wrong and cruel. For that reason, I support this Bill.
Assisted Dying Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2021-10-22
Topic: Health
Stephanie Fraser (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I feel incredibly honoured to be part of this debate. Apart from personal interests, I need to declare some professional interests: I chair the Scottish Government’s Advisory Committee for Neurological Conditions, I am a trustee of the Neurological Alliance of Scotland and I am chief executive of Cerebral Palsy Scotland In both Scotland and in this place, we are being asked to consider the prospect of legalised killing. People with a neurological condition live with what the Bill defines as a terminal illness in that they have "an inevitably progressive condition which cannot be reversed by treatment" Currently we have no cure for Parkinson’s, MS, Huntingdon’s or MND, which are all awful, terrible conditions. Both Stephen Hawking and Doddie Weir are high-profile examples of those who achieved incredible things post a devastating terminal diagnosis—of MND in both cases. The Bill implies that if you cannot speak, eat, dress yourself or move around without assistance and you require intimate personal care, your life is less worthy than others. However, this is the reality of everyday life for many disabled people We have all had much correspondence in preparation for today’s debate, but one letter stood out from me. It was from Ian and Sue Farquhar. Ian’s brother Peter died in 2015, from what doctors and family members had all diagnosed and understood as a progressive and incurable condition. But in fact he was murdered by someone who had entwined himself into his life for entirely financial gain. If Peter Farquhar, who everyone believed to have a terminal condition, had expressed a desire for assisted suicide, none of the so-called safeguards in the Bill would have prevented his death, and therefore his murderer would not now be serving time behind bars. Mr Farquhar was a deeply religious, highly intelligent teacher. I know this because he was my English teacher. I am appalled at the manner of his death and I am deeply concerned that, with a state-sanctioned way of bringing about the death of the elderly, the unwell and the disabled, criminals and fraudsters would be able to take advantage of the most vulnerable in our society, without fear of consequences For me, the Bill crosses a Rubicon, enshrined in centuries of law and medical ethics: that every human life is of value. I beg your Lordships to please oppose it.
Assisted Dying Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2021-10-22
Topic: Health
Daniel Moylan (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I oppose the Bill despite the respect I have for the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher. I wish to develop the point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Masham of Ilton. When my father was on his last legs a few years ago, he was physically quite robust: he was capable of keeping up with current affairs, he lived at home and looked after himself. However, mentally he was becoming increasingly fretful and, indeed, had borderline paranoia in the last couple of years. I believe this is quite common among the elderly: it is a form of dementia even though he was not actually confused in the normal sense The news of the Liverpool pathway scandal that broke in his last year had a shattering effect on him. It destroyed any trust he had in the medical profession and it became extremely difficult to persuade him to attend hospital for treatment for the low-level chronic conditions he had that needed periodic attention. This is my worry. I am generally opposed to the principle of Bill, but my worry about its practical effects relates very much to this key question of the intimate type of trust that we all need to have in doctors and nurses when we are ill and we put ourselves in their hands It is not only people such as my father, who was borderline paranoid and suffered from conspiracy theories; it is many elderly people, who feel simply that a hospital is a place of life and cure, it is not a place where death is deliberately administered. I know that many doctors and nurses feel very similarly. There is evidence from other countries where this practice is legalised, of elderly people, in particular, being fearful of going to the hospital. How will this be dealt with? I have heard nothing from proponents of the Bill about how they would address—or even acknowledge—this concern. One possibility would be a radical separation between the NHS and assisted dying facilities: no sharing of personnel or premises. However, I have not heard an answer to it; that may or may not be workable. It needs to be addressed because it is fundamental to the social effects of the Bill if it is passed.
Assisted Dying Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2021-10-22
Topic: Health
Thomas Jopling (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, because of my respect for life, I have always been opposed to euthanasia, as well as so-called assisted dying. I should make it clear at the beginning that my views are in no way influenced by religious teaching. My opposition to the Bill is also based on my anxieties at its consequences if it were to become law. First, there are the temptations which would arise for greedy families, who might wrongly encourage the premature demise of a distressed relative for reasons of convenience or money. I give the example of my own mother, who was widowed at 58 and went through a number of periods when ill health and temporary depression caused her to wish life could come to an end. Of course, we always jollied her out of that attitude, but I know that if we had encouraged her to end it and it had been available, she would have done so—not least because her doctor wrongly told her several times during her widowhood that she did not have long to live. In the event, she lived a fruitful widowhood and died at 96 Finally, I am concerned that the likely consequences of what I would describe as doctors sympathetic to euthanasia and what were called in a previous debate in 2014 doctors for hire, doctors who are philosophically strongly supportive of euthanasia. When we last had these debates on the Bill of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, to try to deal with the problem of doctors for hire, I tabled an amendment whereby no doctor could sign the certificate more often than once in four years. In fact, we did not get to debate it in Committee, but it is on the record that the noble and learned Lord recognised the problem of doctors for hire and agreed that we should discuss ways to deal with it. If this Bill should go to a Second Reading, I give notice that I shall again table an amendment seeking to restrict doctors to sign these certificates at reasonably infrequent times.
Assisted Dying Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2021-10-22
Topic: Health
John Dawson Eccles (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, that is a difficult speech to follow. My family home is over the hill from Vernham Dean; it is a lovely part of Wiltshire I think we all have an interest to declare in that we would all like to die peacefully; I am sure that I have that interest to declare. However, my provisional conclusion is that there is no tidy way of guaranteeing that this will happen. Autonomy does not do it because you cannot control the illness that you suffer from As we are considering legislation that is for everybody, the first thing is that we do not have a tidy solution to this dilemma. Principles are very valuable but not enough. It is the detail of the implementation of any legislation that lies at the heart of whether we have done a good job In 1936, the first voluntary euthanasia legislation Bill was in front of this House. Archbishop Lang concluded his speech by saying: "I cannot but think that it is better to leave this most difficult and delicate matter in the hands of the medical profession… rather than… to drag it into the open and regulate it by elaborate official procedure."—[Official Report, 1/12/36; col. 489.] I suggest that the situation today is not dramatically different. If this Bill is passed, it would morph into a voluntary euthanasia Bill. In an age of social media and when things are very controversial and the controversy does not go away, we must think very carefully about the wider social implications on the medical profession, the NHS, and what might happen if one section of society or more decided that "This is for you, but not for me" Thank goodness that this House is good at scrutiny. When we are in Committee, as I hope we will be, we will consider these matters in great detail.
Assisted Dying Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2021-10-22
Topic: Health
Robin Bridgeman (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I was called away and only heard the impressive speech by the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher, and four others, so I crave your indulgence if I cover points already made. I want to speak briefly on two overseas jurisdictions about which much has been said in the current debate—Canada and Oregon A Bill was introduced in Canada in 2016 to legalise assisted dying. Like similar measures introduced elsewhere, it was originally tightly drawn. However, in March 2021 the law was expanded to those with indefinite years to live, and in less than two years it will be further extended so that those with mental illness will be eligible for assisted dying Like many noble Lords, I received a passionate letter from a general practitioner, this one in Montreal. He writes: "I just know how dangerous it is when killing patients becomes part of the healthcare system." He goes on to say: "Physicians are not God. Errors in diagnosis for severe life-threatening conditions can be as high as 20%... and a recent Canadian study found that close to a third of patients with a diagnosis of lung cancer who died by assisted suicide did not have a biopsy-proven diagnosis of lung cancer. This is what happens when the door is opened to assisted suicide." Oregon is quoted as a model example of how assisted suicide is operated successfully. Its Death with Dignity Act, like all laws of this nature, is a law that dares not speak its name. It started, as in Canada, tightly drawn. However, an article published by a Swedish researcher reveals a loophole which I suggest could have far-reaching implications. The researcher asked the Oregon Health Authority a question regarding someone who had a chronic and incurable illness, such as diabetes, which could be managed with medication, but who chose to stop the treatment and as a result was likely to die within six months. Would that patient qualify for assisted suicide under the Act? The answer given by the OHA was: "Yes, that patient would qualify." The wider availability under the Oregon law has been known for the last two years at least, and no attempt has been made by campaigners in Oregon or elsewhere, or, I suggest, in this Bill, to close that loophole. My simple message is that should this Bill go to Second Reading, this apparent anomaly will be addressed—the anomaly between the six-month limit as stated in the Bill and the indefinite limit of other diseases, which can be just as crucial.
Assisted Dying Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2021-10-22
Topic: Health
Ian McColl (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, when talking about this euthanasia Bill, the first thing we have to say is that the present law stands as a huge dam holding back thousands of unintended consequences. What possible unintended consequences could there be? We cannot ignore Canada’s euthanasia legislation, which has resulted in 1,373 people having euthanasia, with the reason for their untimely death given that they were lonely. Is that the hallmark of a civilised society? Some dismiss that as just a small crack in the dam, but small cracks in a dam often result in the whole dam giving way. Another crack in the dam holding back the flood of unintended consequences would be the pressure put on clinicians to change the nature of their roles. A group of young palliative care doctors recently issued a statement in which they said: "The overwhelming majority of palliative care doctors do not want the introduction of assisted dying and will not participate if it is brought in." I have personally worked with hospices for most of my professional life and have been involved in setting up two new ones, one in London and one in Uganda. No one needs to die in agony. Perhaps I could give an example from the many cases that I dealt with. I was consulted by a lady of 25 with a very painful cancer of the throat that was causing respiratory distress. I relieved all her symptoms with a large dose of intravenous heroin, which gave her immediate relief and several weeks of pain-free life quite without distress What guarantees are there that the conscience clause will function as it is supposed to? What guarantee is there that a healthcare worker will not be dismissed if he or she refuses to take any part in the procedure? What guarantee do we have to prevent a court rewriting the law at a later date, as occurred in similar conscience clauses such as the Doogan case, which resulted in an invaluable midwife losing her job? Parliament believes that it writes and passes laws, not the courts. We cannot clap and cheer the NHS on Monday and then on Tuesday tell doctors that we are going to ignore their views and tell them to end their lives of their patients. Studies in the Netherlands have shown that there is a significant incidence of emotional distress, both in doctors who receive a request for euthanasia and in those who perform the procedure We hear a lot about the right to commit suicide and autonomy, but let us be clear: the Bill is not about that. It is about the right to tell someone else—a doctor or a dispensing pharmacist—to end a patient’s life. That is not about autonomy. It turns us as doctors into takers of life, and that is not what we were called to do. "Care" and "kill" are not interchangeable words. We must ensure that the great dam that holds back the flood of unintended consequences is kept in good repair.
Assisted Dying Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2021-10-22
Topic: Health
Gloria Dorothy Hooper (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, it is not death but the manner of dying that concerns most people. However, of the many moving letters and messages that I, and I know others, have received about the Bill, no one asked me to support it—on the contrary. In listening to the well-reasoned arguments and some very brave personal accounts for and against that have been advanced today, it is clear that there is at least one thing on which we can all agree: this is a very complex and difficult issue for which there are no easy answers Many moral, theological and legal avenues have been broached in the course of this debate. I would like to explore them further, but time, of course, does not allow. I will make just one point. Inevitably, the personal examples that have been advanced today have concentrated on older people. Of course, looking around your Lordships’ House, this Second Reading debate has encouraged many of the older Members—including me—some of whom we have not seen during the long period of lockdown, so it is good to see them here and contributing to the debate today Seriously, I understand this concentration on older people at the end of their natural lives and on the pain and suffering they may have to endure, but my concern is that giving a certain category of people the right to end their lives legally could influence others of other generations, whatever the presumed safeguards that I fully appreciate the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher, has tried to build into the Bill. To put it simply, we are all aware, I am sure, of the increasing number of young people—especially young men, it seems—who are committing suicide. This Bill, however unintentionally, could give them a feeling of legitimacy and justification in taking their young lives for reasons that may be imagined. This, in my opinion, would be an unintended consequence too far. For this reason, and for the many reasons advanced by others, perhaps encapsulated best, for me, in the early stages of the debate by the most reverend Primate the Archbishop of Canterbury, I oppose the Bill.
Assisted Dying Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2021-10-22
Topic: Health
Robert Hayward (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I first draw attention to my entry in the register of interests and my involvement with Dignity in Dying What is striking about this debate is the variation in the conclusions that people have come to from similar experiences. My noble friend Lord Herbert spoke just now. I regard him as a personal friend and we have faced many similar difficulties in society over the years, but I have come to a completely different conclusion The reason I have come to that conclusion is twofold. One is that, aged 35, I sat across a desk from a doctor who told me that I had multiple sclerosis, but that the probability was that in my case I would deteriorate very slowly. The fact that I am stood here now is probably proof that the diagnosis was accurate. Secondly, the argument is put forward that we are crossing a threshold. But the noble Lord, Lord Butler of Brockwell, identified very clearly that he believed that one of his own parents had faced this problem and that the doctor had taken a decision. I believe that in the case of my father the doctor took exactly the same decision; we were told when my father would die and, surprisingly enough, he did. I have sympathy not for myself in my case but for the doctors and nurses in palliative care homes who take terribly difficult decisions on an ongoing basis. I think that for them, if many of them are honest, those decisions are taken, tragically, on a fairly regular basis The only other comment that I wish to add in relation to this debate, because so much has been said about very different circumstances, is that the one argument that I find difficult to accept is the "slippery slope" argument. We in this and the other Chamber have the power to decide what is or is not the law. The suggestion is that if one passes this piece of legislation, in several years’ time something else might happen. It is only in this case that I can recall the argument of the slippery slope being put forward in the six years that I have been in this House. We are debating this piece of legislation, and the potential to amend this piece of legislation. I support it. I hope it will be given full consideration and approved in this House, and passed to the other House at a later stage.
Assisted Dying Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2021-10-22
Topic: Health
Nicholas Fairfax (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, as the holder of a Scottish peerage, I particularly welcome and congratulate my noble friend Lady Davidson on what was, as one expected it to be, an excellent maiden speech. I agreed with everything she said this afternoon on this subject Listening to this debate, it is clear that it is personal stories that are most compelling. Fortunately, I have no such personal experiences but, like the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Carey, I strongly believe in compassion. I am heartened by the many letters that I have received, although they are distressing and heartrending, to say nothing of the more than 80% of the public in favour of assisted dying In my three minutes, I will make two points and one plea to the Government. My first point is about palliative care. Contrary to what some have said, palliative care clearly does not deal effectively with all relevant end-of-life cases. We have heard from the noble Baroness, Lady Black, about the experience of her daughter in this regard. I quote from a letter written by seven senior doctors, including a former president of the BMA, which says: "No amount of investment in Palliative Care could eradicate the small but significant number of horrific deaths that some people are currently forced to endure" My second point is about the inequity of the current position. As some noble Lords have already said, approximately one person a week currently travels to Switzerland to end their life at a cost of about £10,000. That financial barrier, and other practical barriers, clearly make it impossible for very many people to do so, so many are forced to end their life much sooner than they would otherwise choose to do. This Bill would give some dying people—those falling within its remit—the choice to die at a time and place, surrounded by their loved ones if possible, of their choosing Finally, I make a plea to the Government. Clearly, without government support this Bill is going nowhere. Even if there is a majority in favour of a change in the law this afternoon, this will run into the sand. Therefore, as requested by the noble Baroness, Lady Mallalieu, can the Government make time for legislation on a free vote, to respect the will of the more than 80% of the public who are in favour of assisted dying I end with the words of five faith leaders: "There is nothing sacred about suffering, nothing holy about agony".