Lord Adonis Opposes the Assisted Dying Bill in the House of Lords

 

Labour Peer Lord Adonis On

Assisted Dying Bill In the House of Lords

 

Dr Mozammel Haque

Labour Peer Lord Andrew Adonis’s opposed the Assissted Dying Bill in the House of Lords on 22 October 2021.

Labour Peer Lord Adonis opposed the Assisted Dying Bill. He said, “My Lords, I am opposed to this Bill, although I accept that it is a desperately difficult issue; like other noble Lords, I have heart-rending experiences of the long, drawn-out deaths of friends and relatives.”

Labour Peer Lord Adonis said, “The problem with the Bill is that it is simply not possibly to guard adequately against the abuse of the very elderly and the very ill by greedy and manipulative relations and friends. The idea that brief consultations with two doctors are adequate is simply not credible. I accept that it does extend autonomy—autonomy which I might personally value—to those of sound mind who are unpressurised about ending their life. Of course I accept that, which is why this is such a desperately difficult issue. But the supreme duty of the state and the community is to protect the vulnerable and their human rights. There is no greater human right than the right to life. Therefore, very reluctantly, I come to the conclusion that this Bill—or indeed any Bill seeking to achieve this objective—is not one to which Parliament should give assent.”