25 questions for @kimleadbeater: 1. You’ve suggested that feeling like “a burden” could be a “legitimate” reason to ask for an assisted suicide, and you rejected an amendment to rule this out. How common do you think it is for terminally ill people to feel like a burden? 2. If a terminally ill person asks for assisted suicide only because they are on a long waiting list for treatment, the authorities will have to approve the suicide. Do you think that’s a legitimate reason too? 3. If a terminally ill person asks for assisted suicide only because they are depressed, the request must be approved. Why did you reject an amendment that doctors must at least check for remediable suicide risk factors? 4. Studies have found that “six months” is an extremely unreliable category, and DWP figures show that 20% of those given a six-month diagnosis are still alive three years later. Are you comfortable with thousands of people receiving an assisted death who had years of life ahead of them? 5. You say this is to help people in intractable pain. Why did you reject an amendment which would have specified that pain must be the reason for the assisted suicide? 6. You’ve amended the meaning of the NHS’s founding principles, in order to incorporate assisted suicide into the NHS. Do you accept the BMA’s view that “assisted dying is not a ‘treatment option’ in the conventional sense”? 7. The government has said it is open to private provision as long as it’s free at the point of use. Would you be comfortable with Serco or Capita providing this service? 8. The Times reported that you were considering an amendment to cap private providers’ profits at “reasonable” levels. That amendment was never tabled. Why not? 9. Doctors are allowed to raise the subject when the patient hasn’t mentioned it (you rejected an amendment to rule this out). Do you have any worries that this will lead vulnerable patients towards assisted suicide who otherwise wouldn’t have considered it? 10. Doctors can also raise the procedure with under-18s (who aren’t yet eligible). You rejected an amendment to change this, saying that “open conversations…create…safeguards”. Which safeguards are created by allowing doctors to raise assisted suicide with children? 11. Why do the new panels not have any requirement to ask anybody a single question? (They just have to “hear from” two people, and it could be over audio link.) 12. The Royal College of Psychiatrists have strongly criticised some of the bill’s provisions. Why did you originally block them from giving oral evidence, and why did you not consult them before announcing they would have to staff the new panels? 13. The panels have no power of summons: so if they suspect a woman might be being coerced by her husband, and they ask him to answer questions, he can just ignore them. Why have you made the panels so weak? 14. You have alluded to Sir James Munby’s critique as a reason for dropping the High Court safeguard, but he says of the panels that “The Bill still falls lamentably short of providing adequate safeguards.” Why was he right before and wrong now? 15. You repeatedly cite the lawyers’ letter in support of the panel. Do you know why, of the 25 KCs who previously signed a letter supporting your bill with the High Court safeguard, only 11 signed the letter supporting it with the new panels? 16. You cite public polling. But Jake Richards, a co-sponsor of the bill, has pointed out that “When you unpack that a bit, the polling is a bit more ambivalent, and I think it’s important to be honest about that. So I don’t think it’s an overwhelming case in terms of public opinion.” Is he right that this is a test of honesty? 17. Panels will have to assess coercion according to civil law – i.e. on the balance of probabilities: so if the panel thinks “coercion” is only 49% likely, they have to approve the application. Why did you reject an amendment requiring the absence of coercion to be proved beyond reasonable doubt? 18. Prof Jane Monckton-Smith OBE, a leading authority on coercive control, says: “Unless we do take this incredibly seriously, this bill is going to be the worst thing potentially that we have ever done to domestic abuse victims.” Are you confident you have done enough to reassure her? 19. You say the assessors will pick up on coercion. 50% of coercive control cases are dropped for lack of evidence, and only around 5 per cent of recorded coercive control crimes result in a charge. How will you make the doctors’ and panels’ checks on coercion any better than the police’s? 20. You accepted Jess Asato’s amendment to require training on coercion. She is still wholly opposed to the bill, and says: “We cannot end up in a situation like Australia, where AD domestic abuse training forms part of a 40-60 minute self-guided online module.” Can you guarantee it will be anything more than that? 21. Experts including a former attorney general and Dr Alexandra Mullock recommended that you ban “encouragement” of assisted suicide as well as “coercion”. Why did you reject an amendment to do just that? 22. The Second Reading margin was a narrow one (55%-45%). You handpicked your committee so that most votes went your way 65%-35%, and the witnesses were 80%-20% balanced towards supporters. Why did you need to control the process so much? 23. A coalition of eating disorders charities backed five separate amendments to the bill. Why did you reject all of them? 24. Prof Mark Taubert says those receiving assisted suicide drugs have a “substantial risk” of “distressing deaths”, and the anaesthiogist Dr Joel Zivot of Emory University claims: “Assisted suicide is not painless or peaceful or dignified. In fact, in the majority of cases, it is a very painful death.” Why did you reject amendments to ensure that the drugs must be approved by the MHRA; that the Health Secretary must conclude they do not cause pain; and that applicants must be told about potential complications? 25. You rejected amendments allowing family to know about and contribute to the process. Is it correct to say that the first a family might know of a loved one’s assisted suicide application is when they are asked to come and pick up the body?