Supporters of the legalisation of assisted dying have said MPs’ decision to back Kim Leadbeater’s bill would bring relief to terminally ill people facing terrible suffering, while opponents described the outcome as “a very black Friday” for vulnerable people.
Esther Rantzen, who galvanised the debate on assisted dying last year when she revealed she had terminal lung cancer, said she was “absolutely thrilled” that the bill had passed.
“Those who don’t want an assisted death and don’t want to take part in providing assisted dying can opt out of it, don’t have to do it, don’t choose to end their lives that way,” she said. “So it offers everyone equal choice, whatever their religion.”
The vote was unlikely to make any impact on her own life, Rantzen added. “It’s going to take probably almost two years for it to change the law, and I’d be astonished if the drug I’m on manages to extend my life that far.”
Religious leaders generally expressed disappointment with the vote. Stephen Cottrell, the archbishop of York, said: “I regret this decision. It changes the relationship between the state and its citizens, between doctors and their patients, and within families between children and their terminally ill relatives. Once begun it will be hard to undo and control.”
He said funding for palliative care would be harder to secure, and vulnerable people would feel a duty to die.
The Catholic church said the bill was “flawed in principle”. The Right Rev John Sherrington, an auxiliary bishop of Westminster, said he hoped MPs would have “the wisdom to reject this bill at a later stage in its progress”.
Andrea Williams, of the campaign group Christian Concern, said: “Today is indeed a very black Friday for the vulnerable in this country, but this is not over. The proposals in this dangerous bill have been completely exposed. The proposed safeguards are completely meaningless, and more and more MPs are waking up to that reality.” She said the bill “must be stopped at third reading”.
George Carey, the former archbishop of Canterbury, welcomed the result. “Now is not the time for celebration by supporters but for serious work to get this law right so that it protects the vulnerable, as well as reducing pain, suffering and indignity at the very end of life,” he said. “The quality of civilised and courteous debate in the House of Commons on all sides gives a clear lead as to how all parliamentarians should face the challenge of revising and amending the law in all its stages.”
Rabbi Jonathan Romain, the chair of the Religious Alliance for Dignity in Dying, said: “For those facing a ghastly death and for those who may do so one day, this is a vote for compassion and a vote for hope. It will also be welcomed by many people of faith who felt that, unlike the religious hierarchy, this is a profoundly religious response.”
Dignity in Dying, the campaign group that has been at the forefront of efforts to change the law, said it was “a historic step towards greater choice and protection for dying people”.
Sarah Wootton, its chief executive, said: “Many will be feeling overwhelming relief and gratitude that today our country has moved closer than ever before to a safer and more compassionate law. Today MPs have voted for choice, safety and compassion. They have expressed the will of the British people and have made history.”
Trevor Moore, the chair of My Death, My Decision, which campaigns for assisted dying, said: “Thousands of people will be heartened by this result. Every day, 20 people in the UK are suffering unbearable pain at the end of their lives despite receiving the best possible care. For them, the choices are stark and harrowing: travel to Switzerland and end their life by suicide, stop eating or drinking, or face an agonising natural death. These people deserve better. They deserve the dignity of choice at the end of their lives, and we are relieved to see MPs acknowledge this.”
The chief executive of Care Not Killing, which opposes assisted dying, said the bill was “dangerous and ideological” and would make “many elderly, terminally ill and disabled people feel like a burden and end their lives prematurely”.
Gordon Macdonald said: “The more MPs hear about assisted suicide and euthanasia, the more they turn against changing the law and rightly want the government to focus on fixing the UK’s broken palliative care system.”
Toby Porter, the chief executive of Hospice UK, which takes a neutral position on changing the law, said the vote had “monumental ramifications for the UK’s end-of-life care system and hospice sector”.
He said MPs on all sides had been unified on the need to improve palliative and end-of-life care in the UK. “People are not getting the care they need. This must change. We have said before that it is intolerable that anyone might choose an assisted death because of a fear that they won’t get the care they need. That fear, at present, is real and justified. Government must act, now and in the long term, to change this.”
David Randall, a renal consultant in east London and an opponent of assisted dying, said: “Those with the most to lose from this legislation are the poorest, frailest and most marginalised in society, and MPs have discounted the almost unanimous views of disabled people, minority groups and those with specialist professional expertise in treating those at the end of life. MPs should be ready to vote the bill down at third reading if it remains as inadequate as it currently is.”
Some of those with personal experience of a loved one’s suffering welcomed the vote. Peter Wilson, whose terminally ill wife took her own life two years ago, said he would be raising “a glass of something bubbly” to her memory.
He said the vote would “hopefully begin a process that will prevent others having to end their life alone, as Beverly did, in order to protect their loved ones from implied involvement in their deaths. And I hope it will also save others from my traumatic experience, having discovered Beverly’s body on my return home, of spending seven hours being questioned, photographed, swabbed and fingerprinted in police custody.
“The change in the law may have come too late for Beverly, but she would have been mightily pleased about the outcome of the vote today.”
Liz Poole, whose father tried to kill himself when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, said: “I feel an overwhelming sense of relief that MPs have done the right thing voting for this bill. This is the first step in getting closure on my dad’s death and it’s a huge step towards stopping the suffering that has affected so many people. This would have made my dad very happy.”
