The requirement for a High Court judge to approve assisted dying applications has been removed by the committee reviewing the bill.
The clause had been seen as a key safeguard, making the proposed legislation the strictest of its kind. However, concerns were raised by the Ministry of Justice and senior judges about the impact on the courts.
Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, who is leading the bill, suggested replacing the judge’s role with a three-person panel consisting of a senior legal figure, a psychiatrist, and a social worker to review applications. The committee is expected to finalize these details later.
Following a vote of 15 to seven in favour of removing the judicial requirement, Leadbeater said the change would make the law “even more robust”. She said:
“It is much safer than the current ban on assisted dying, which leaves terminally ill people and their families without any such protections at all.”
She added that there was cross-party support for ensuring proper safeguards, stating:
“That tells me that whatever our views on the Bill itself, there is a shared commitment to getting protections for terminally ill adults right. That means we are doing our job.”
However, a group of 26 Labour MPs, most of whom opposed the bill at second reading, criticised the change, arguing it “breaks the promises made by proponents of the bill, fundamentally weakens protections for the vulnerable, and shows just how haphazard this whole process has become”. In a statement, the MPs said:
“It does not increase judicial safeguards but instead creates an unaccountable quango, and to claim otherwise misrepresents what is being proposed.”
One Response
So it really will be ok for the state to murder its citizens and no judge will intervene, this is really horrifying particularly when 20% if all recorded deaths are by state execution in the same way as Canada, despicable, but ee do get the politicians we deserve