Lord Curry of
Kirkharle Opposes the Assisted
Dying Bill in
the House of Lords
Dr. Mozammel Haque
Lord Curry of Kirkharle opposed the Assisted Dying Bill in the House of
Lords on 22 October 2021. He said, “My Lords, I, too, am deeply concerned about
this Bill and oppose it.” He also added, “We live in an imperfect, fallen
world. Support for this Bill will not make it perfect. In closing, I challenge
the interpretation of theology given by the noble Lord, Lord Vinson. Christ’s
death was not assisted. He voluntarily offered up his life and it was the
purpose for which he came.”
Lord Curry said, “My Lords, I, too, am deeply concerned about this Bill
and oppose it. Let me give yet another very personal insight into why I am
concerned. Eight years ago, my wife and I held the hands of our daughter, aged
42, who had a learning disability, while she passed from time into eternity.
She breathed her last while we held her hands. It was a very emotional and
precious moment for us. It was not an experience that one ever envisages when
bringing a child into the world.”
Lord Curry mentioned, “Six years before that, she was very ill with
pneumonia and other complications and was not expected to survive. We sat with
her day and night as she struggled and battled to live. The medical staff had
done what they could. Nothing more could be done. It was extremely distressing
and we were torn between wishing for her to pull through and thinking that
perhaps the best solution might be for her to slip quietly away so that her
pain and suffering could be over.”
Lord Curry said, “If someone at that time had offered an assisted
dying—assisted suicide—option, I firmly believe that in our heightened
emotional state, not thinking rationally, we may have been tempted to agree to
her premature death. Had we done that, it would have troubled us for the rest
of our lives.”
He also said, “Remarkably, she pulled through. It was a long, hard slog,
but she enriched our lives for another six years, enjoyed her own life and
continued to influence hundreds of people during that time. What a tragedy it
would have been had her life been cut short six years too early. That is
exactly what will happen if this Bill is supported. There will be a few in the
first year and a few hundred in future years who feel that they have become a
burden on their families and society and will be killed off prematurely because
it will become the simple, easy option.”
Lord Curry concluded, “I fear that this country will become a society
that terminates the lives of its old people and its sick and disabled people
because they fear they are being a burden to their loved ones and because of
the time and the cost of their care. I have the same letter that the noble
Lord, Lord Sheikh, referred to, where a doctor wrote very eloquently. I want to
repeat that phrase: “Doctors are very poor at predicting when people will die.”
We live in an
imperfect, fallen world. Support for this Bill will not make it perfect. In
closing, I challenge the interpretation of theology given by the noble Lord,
Lord Vinson. Christ’s death was not assisted. He voluntarily offered up his
life and it was the purpose for which he came.
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