Lord Alton of Liverpool: ...the pro-euthanasia lobby sees acceptance of the withdrawal or withholding of sustenance from patients who are not dying as the first major hurdle to overcome on the road towards the legalisation of assisted suicide and positive euthanasia. The noble Lord, Lord Joffe, has already placed before your Lordships' House a Bill to achieve that purpose. After all, they argue, if it is legitimate...
Lord Alton of Liverpool: asked Her Majesty's Government: Further to the Written Answer by the Baroness Andrews on 12 May (WA 13), whether they will support any proposal to legalise assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia.
Lord Alton of Liverpool: .... The British Medical Association says that the Bill should be resisted. It states that, "there is consensus within the BMA that the law should not be changed to permit euthanasia or physician assisted suicide in the UK". As we have heard, the BMA has been joined by the Royal College of Physicians, the Royal College of Anaesthetists and the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges in opposing my...
Lord Alton of Liverpool: ...as it did at 11 a.m. and not finishing until just before 7 p.m. It was a memorable debate with many distinguished contributions. By a small margin, a majority of Peers spoke against the Patient (Assisted Dying) Bill, as it was then known, proposed by the noble Lord, Lord Joffe. Although there are some modifications in the Bill before your Lordships' House tonight, the objections that I and...
Lord Alton of Liverpool: ...Capacity Bill, which has the laudable aim of seeking to transform the lives of mentally incapacitated individuals and their carers, were to become a vehicle for the introduction of euthanasia and assisted suicide. The noble Lord, Lord Clarke of Hampstead, drew attention to the excellent speech of his honourable friend Mr Brian Iddon, on 14 December. In another place he quoted official...
Lord Alton of Liverpool: ...advance decisions". That remains an issue which is in contention in your Lordships' House and with representatives of many of the great faiths outside. The second of their concerns is the issue of suicidally motivated advance directives. The statement says: "We believe an amendment is needed to send a clear signal that the Bill does not give validity to expressly suicidal advance...
Lord Alton of Liverpool: ...about protection, a point to which I shall return later. It is important that we are clear about an issue raised by the noble Lord, Lord Carter, in our proceedings on Tuesday about Part II of the Suicide Act 1961, and how that would affect a doctor in the circumstances described earlier. We should also reflect on what the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Habgood, said to us on Tuesday....
Lord Alton of Liverpool: ..., Mr Jim Dobbin, earlier this month. The Archbishop wrote: "Professor Finnis and I believe that a further amendment is still needed to ensure that the Bill confers no authority on expressly suicidal advance decisions. We therefore strongly support efforts of Members of both Houses who are seeking to introduce an amendment to exclude decisions from being given validity or authority by a...
Lord Alton of Liverpool: ...amendments brought forward throughout the various stages of the Bill. I return now to the question of advance directives and whether or not they are covered by the scope of the Bill; and whether a suicidally-motivated advance directive should be given force in the Bill to bring about a person's death. Amendment No. 9 relates to the declaratory provision, which was Clause 58 but is now...
Lord Alton of Liverpool: ...course of the Bill. Many of us were struck by the passion that she showed on Report, where she said that she would rather resign her ministerial office than introduce a Bill that allowed patient-assisted dying or euthanasia. I respect her enormously for that. I agree with the right reverend Prelate about the importance of honour in these proceedings. I know that she knows that I would not...
Lord Alton of Liverpool: My Lords, when we last debated the issue of euthanasia and assisted suicide I set out my own reasons for opposing such a change in the law, but I supported the reference of these complex questions to a Select Committee. Along with others in your Lordships' House today I should like to pay tribute to the Select Committee for the honourable and diligent way in which it has discharged its...
Lord Alton of Liverpool: My Lords, before my noble friend sits down, would he address the point he made about the number of assisted suicides in Oregon? He said that the figure has remained steady over the period of seven years, when in fact the latest report issued on 10 March this year by the Department of Human Services in Oregon includes a graph indicating that there has been an increase of over 200 per cent...
Lord Alton of Liverpool: ...for the minnow; freedom for the hunter, death for the hunted. Our noble friend Lady O'Neill of Bengarve, a very distinguished philosopher, said in a note to your Lordships yesterday: "Legalising 'assisted dying' amounts to adopting a principle of indifference towards a special and acute form of vulnerability: in order to allow a few independent folk to get others to kill them on demand, we...
Lord Alton of Liverpool: ...we have heard have explained why. The UK leads the world in palliative care, but its universal application is compromised because this crucial service remains underfunded. The Bill is not about assisted dying or euthanasia, which rightly remain entirely outside the scope of this measure. However, as the noble Lord, Lord Colwyn, argued earlier, it provides us with a radical alternative to...
Lord Alton of Liverpool: My Lords, the noble Lord, who was a supporter of the Bill of my noble friend Lord Joffe in favour of assisted suicide, and who has represented the Voluntary Euthanasia Society on occasion in the courts, has expressed his views on other occasions. Members of your Lordships' House may measure them against what he has said today. We have no right to tell a physician that they must judge a...
Lord Alton of Liverpool: .... In addressing end-of-life issues, this question of public protection must surely be our paramount concern. It is why the Government have rightly resisted any attempts to use the Bill to make assistance with suicide or the killing of patients legal. In any event, during the life of this Parliament in your Lordships' House we have had the benefit of a Select Committee and several Private...
Lord Alton of Liverpool: ...suspect that the feeling of the Committee is that we should now move quickly to a decision. The noble Lord, Lord Joffe, was right to remind us that we had a full Select Committee inquiry looking at assisted dying. In fact, there were 246 Hansard columns and two volumes of 744 pages and 116 pages respectively, 15 oral sessions, 48 groups or individuals giving evidence, with 88 giving...
Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their stance on (a) assisted suicide, and (b) voluntary euthanasia.
Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, in their policy on assisted dying, they will take into account Motion 305, passed by the British Medical Association in June, concerning the association's opposition to assisted suicide and euthanasia.
Lord Alton of Liverpool: ...medicine, which is now established world wide. Like the late Lady Ryder of Warsaw, Sue Ryder, whose charity the noble Lord, Lord Dubs, referred to earlier, Dame Cicely was resolutely opposed to assisted suicide and euthanasia. She once said: “You matter because you are you, and you matter to the end of your life. We will do all we can not only to help you die peacefully, but also to live...