There’s no time for assisted suicide because it’s bad law

As the likely deadline for passing – or defeating – Leadbeater’s assisted suicide bill looms in the coming months, assisted suicide campaigners are urging the House of Lords to allocate yet more time to debating the bill. With a record number of over 1,000 amendments proposed by peers, each day of debate makes it seem more likely the bill will run out of time before it can be passed. In November, peers were given 10 additional days to debate the assisted suicide bill. And now, rather than recognising this patched-up bill is broken beyond repair, these campaigners are back again and asking for yet more time. Proponents of the bill have accused opponents of introducing a vast quantity of amendments as a ‘delaying tactic’. When lives are on the line, surely delay is the only ethical response? But regardless of the political tactics at play, the fact remains: if the assisted suicide bill was remotely as safe as it claims, this myriad of amendments would be unnecessary. More time will not fix Leadbeater’s bill. With every flaw it attempts to patch up, it opens yet more pitfalls and raises more concerns. Those who think that assisted suicide is compassionate rarely listen to the concerns of those who are most knowledgeable about it – people living with disabilities and medical experts in mental health and palliative care. For these assisted suicide campaigners, it is merely a matter of autonomy and they fail to see the impossibility of making assisted suicide practical and safe. The truth is that there will never be a future assisted suicide bill that is safe.

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