Opponents of assisted dying ‘not hearing’ stories of terminally ill, says MP

Opponents of plans to legalise assisted dying “mustn’t be hearing” the stories of the terminally ill, the MP pushing for a change in the law has said.

At a meeting in Parliament on Monday evening, a panel of terminally ill and bereaved people urged parliamentarians to back the Bill proposed by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater when it comes before the Commons on Friday, describing the current situation as “inhumane”.

Josh Cook, whose mother took her own life while in the advanced stages of Huntington’s disease and has the gene for the condition himself, said the status quo meant palliative care eventually “turns from care to torture”.

“For me, if I go through Huntington’s, my end will be… stuck in the house, twitching and wearing a hole through the carpet, a peg line to keep me alive while my throat muscles give out and I choke to death. That’s what the current law says I have to endure.”

Other panellists discussed their fear that their terminal illness would lead to a loss of control and significant pain.

Tracey Iles, who has stage four breast cancer, said: “I love living and make the best of every day, but there is always that fear niggling away at the forefront of my mind and that is how I will die.

“I really don’t want to suffer in my last days or months, I don’t want my family to watch me in pain. If assisted dying becomes law in this country, I will be able to stop worrying about having a bad death.”

Another panellist, Laura Perkins, described her mother being diagnosed with two forms of cancer and offered the choice of which she wanted to die from as they could not be treated at the same time.

She said: “The medical team solemnly informed us that it was more humane to die of liver cancer than mouth cancer, so in her fragile state she was advised to start a course of radiotherapy on her throat to keep those tumours at bay to allow the liver cancer to grow back as this was the better death.”

With just four days remaining before Parliament’s first vote on her legislation, Ms Leadbeater called for the debate to focus on “the problem we have to fix” rather than “who in the Cabinet has fallen out with who else in the Cabinet”.

“How can you tell me these families should have not had a choice other than what we’ve heard tonight? I just refuse to accept that.”

Ms Leadbeater’s Bill enjoys cross-party backing, and supporters of her proposals have expressed cautious optimism that it could have enough votes to pass its first hurdle on Friday.

But the MP herself said there was still a “reasonable cohort of MPs who haven’t made their minds up”.

She said: “That’s why over the next four days, let’s use this as an opportunity to tell your stories and to make sure MPs do realise the unacceptable situation that we’ve got for so many families.”

Friday’s vote is just the first stage in the legislative process for Ms Leadbeater’s Bill, which if approved will then face further parliamentary scrutiny over the coming months.