Declaration form terminally ill patients must fill in for help to die is revealed – as MP Kim Leadbeater insists bill will have ‘strictest safeguards in the world’_Nhy
The declaration form terminally-ill patients must fill in for help to kill themselves has been revealed for the first time.
The document was published under the new Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, tabled by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater – who insists the new laws will have the ‘strictest protections and safeguards of any legislation anywhere in the world’.
It’s hope the Bill, which will legalise assisted dying in England and Wales, would stop experiencing ‘very harrowing’ deaths.
Under plans unveiled last night only people diagnosed with a terminal illness who have been told they have less than six months to live would be allowed to go through the process to end their life with the help of medics.
Supporters of the long-awaited have also revealed that if passed by Parliament, it will be illegal to use ‘dishonesty, coercion or pressure’ to make someone say they want help dying.
It will also become an offence to force someone to take the lethal dose of medication that is supplied for approved applications, with prison sentences of up to 14 years for those convicted.
Under the radical legal overhaul, terminally-ill adults wishing to die could seek assistance in doing so if two doctors and a High Court judge agree their eligible, and they have made the decision voluntarily.
The form a person would need to sign is made up of an A4 sheet of paper, with six declarations the dying adult would need to agree to.
Pictured is the declaration form adults seeking for help to die will have to sign before the process begins. The form was published under the new assisted dying bill, tabled by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater
Labour MP Ms Leadbeater (pictured) insists the new laws will have the ‘strictest protections and safeguards of any legislation anywhere in the world’.
It says: ‘I declare that if I am eligible to be provide with assistance to end my own life under the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Act 2024 (‘the 2024 Act), I wish to be provided with that assistance.
‘I understand that, for that assistance to be provided, I must be assessed by two registered medical practitioners and I consent to being assessed by them for the purposes of the 2024 Act.’
It continues: ‘I make this declaration voluntarily and, in particular, I confirm that I have not been coerced or pressured by any other person into making this.’
Those who sign the declaration do have the option to back out, should they change their minds.
As part of the process, a judge will take evidence from at least one of the doctors, and they could question the terminally-ill adult themselves, before deciding whether they should be allowed to self-administer the fatal medication.
The whole process is expected to take at least three weeks, unless the person’s death is more imminent than that, the Bill says.
Ms Leadbeater said her Bill, which MPs will get a free vote on November 29, would be among one of the ‘most robust’ in the world.
She believes that hundreds of dying people might initially opt to use a service which could see patients press a button to end their lives.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to study the details of the landmark law as he insisted no MPs will face pressure ahead of the first Commons debate on the issue of assisted dying since 2015.
Supporters of the campaign, which includes terminally-ill TV presenter Dame Esther Rantzen, who hailed the bill ‘wonderful’ – but admitted it would probably come too late for her.
Supporters of the campaign, which includes terminally-ill TV presenter Dame Esther Rantzen
Ms Leadbeater presenting her bill to the Speaker. It will be debated in the Commons on November 29
Dame Esther, who has terminal cancer and revealed in December she had joined Dignitas due to the current law in the UK, said unless her current medication turns out to be ‘totally miraculous’ and extends her life by a few years ‘there’s no way an assisted dying law can come into force in time for me’.
It comes as opposition campaigners have raised fears of coercion and a slippery slope to wider legislation taking in more people.
But Ms Leadbeater has rejected those arguments, saying her Bill has ‘three layers of scrutiny’ in the form of a sign-off by two doctors and a High Court judge, and would make coercion an offence with a possible punishment of 14 years in jail.
Sir Keir Starmer has described the issue as ‘a very important question on which views differ, strongly-held views on either side’.
Speaking at Cop29 in Baku, the Prime Minister said: ‘I will not be putting pressure on any MP to vote one way or the other.
‘I personally will study the details of the Bill which has now been published today because safeguards have always been extremely important to me and were an essential part of the guidelines that I drew up when I was chief prosecutor.’
Sir Keir previously supported assisted dying but the Government has pledged to remain neutral on the issue and all MPs will be able to vote according to their conscience, rather than along party lines.
Only terminally-ill adults with less than six months to live who have a settled wish to end their lives would be eligible under the new law.
A campaigner from ‘Dignity in Dying’ demonstrating outside the Palace of Westminster
Pro-assisted dying activists protesting in support of the assisted dying bill outside parliament
Ms Leadbeater said the proposed legislation for England and Wales would offer the ‘safest choice’ for mentally competent adults at the end of their lives and is capable of protecting against coercion.
Asked at a press briefing on Tuesday, she suggested hundreds rather than thousands might apply to use such a service, with patients possibly pressing a button to self-administer the drugs to end their lives.
The Bill has safeguards ‘all over it’ and is a ‘once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Parliament’ to change what is currently a ‘pitiful situation’ with the current law, according to former director of public prosecutions Sir Max Hill.
He said the status quo is a two-tier system where the wealthy can travel to Dignitas in Switzerland while others have to consider assisting their loved ones to die and facing possible prosecution as a result.
Sir Max said he believes there is ‘an unanswerable argument that the law at the moment provides no safeguards, no rails, no guidance and leaves the vulnerable in a pitiful situation’.
Critics say the Bill is being ‘rushed with indecent haste’, but Ms Leadbeater said almost three weeks is ‘plenty of time to look at the Bill’ and is normal within parliamentary timeframes, noting that the general conversation around assisted dying has been ongoing for years.
She also suggested any new law would not take effect for another two to three years, with ‘even more consultation to make sure we get it right’.
She acknowledged this would be ‘heart-breaking’ for people and families for whom change could come too late.
Ms Leadbeater said: ‘Throughout the process there are layers and layers of safeguards and protections which I believe will probably make it the most robust piece of legislation in the world.’
Campaigners in favour of assisted dying demonstrating outside Parliament in April
Meanwhile, a former director of public prosecutions today said it was ‘a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity’ for Parliament to act in the public interest.
Sir Max Hill told a press conference in Westminster the current settlement either leads people to travel to Dignitas in Switzerland if they have money, or for relatives to consider assisting their loved ones to die against the law if they cannot make the journey.
Sir Max said: ‘Those two reasons combine surely to make an unanswerable argument that the law at the moment provides no safeguards, no rails, no guidance and leaves the vulnerable in a pitiful situation.
‘When I look at the draft Bill that has just been released, it has got safeguards all over it on every page and at every stage.
‘All I say is that once we get past November 29 and the second reading of this Bill, that provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Parliament, who act in all of our interests, to debate every word, every line and every clause in this Bill.’
It is thought the shortest timeframe for the process from first making a declaration to ending a life would be around a month.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has already said he intends to vote against the Bill, voicing his fears about coercion and people feeling a ‘duty to die‘, and Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has previously stated she will oppose it, due to her ‘unshakeable belief in the sanctity and value of human life’.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting (pictured) has already said he intends to vote against the Bill, voicing his fears about coercion and people feeling a ‘duty to die’
High-profile supporters of a change in the law include Dame Esther Rantzen, who is terminally ill and revealed in December that she had joined Dignitas due to the current law.
The broadcaster has hailed the ‘wonderful’ Bill, but acknowledged it would likely come into effect too late for her, and recognised its narrow criteria will not help people enduring unbearable pain and distress through chronic illness.
Ms Leadbeater said she has ‘consulted widely’, speaking with medical and legal experts as well as ‘with their own personal experience of why the current law is not fit for purpose’.
Rejecting the ‘slippery slope’ argument around any widening of the legislation, she said: ‘I feel very confident that once this law is passed, that is where it will be and that is where it will stay.’
Right To Life UK branded the proposed legislation ‘a disaster in waiting’, and described the proposed measures as a ‘monumental change to our laws’.
Campaign group Our Duty Of Care, representing doctors and nurses, has sent a letter to the Prime Minister arguing it is ‘impossible for any government to draft assisted suicide laws which include protection from coercion and future expansion’.
