The assisted dying bill has passed its second reading in the House of Lords, moving it another step closer to becoming law.
Nearly 200 peers made their views known on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill over two days of debate.
Opponents, including former prime minister Baroness Theresa May, had warned the bill could introduce a “licence to kill”, but supporters spoke of the need to give the dying a choice.
Baroness Luciana Berger, who opposes the bill, came to a compromise with Labour colleague Lord Charlie Falconer, the Bill’s sponsor in the House of Lords, to create a new committee to provide extra scrutiny of the details over the next month.
The legislation proposes allowing terminally ill adults in England and Wales, who have fewer than six months to live, to apply for an assisted death, subject to approval by two doctors and a panel made up of a social worker, senior legal figure and psychiatrist.
There have been concerns among some of the Bill’s backers that peers against the proposed legislation would try to block it or “talk it out” so that it runs out of time to become law before next spring when this session of Parliament ends.
The new committee has been given a deadline of 7 November to report back to the Lords, giving enough time for the bill to pass into law in this parliamentary session.
The committee will focus on how an assisted dying service would be funded, the potential impact on the health and justice systems, and the role of coroners and various medical professionals in the process.
It has asked for Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Justice Secretary David Lammy to give evidence and medical colleges in the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
Conservative Lord John Deben claimed the bill had been “inadequately dealt with” by the Commons because it was a private members bill, and added it had also been “criticised seriously” by two Westminster select committees.
“We are empowering the State to kill,” he warned, adding there would be a “temptation” for families to coerce dying relatives to take up assisted dying in order to pass on money and assets.
Another opponent, Lord Patten, branded the bill an “unholy legislative mess” that he said could lead to death becoming the “default solution to perceived suffering”.
However, Baroness Thornton urged compassion for the terminally ill who wanted to die, saying: “Our job is to scrutinise [the bill] further and improve it if we need to – It is not our job to kill this bill.
“I reject the assumption that the sanctity of life requires terminally ill people to undergo a distressing and painful death against their will.”
Labour peer Baroness Jan Royall of Blaisdon said she was “dismayed” by those who conflated suicide with assisted dying, as Baroness May appeared to last week, which she said was “actively damaging” to the terminally ill.
“Let’s be clear, people who choose assisted dying are not suicidal, they are dying and they want to regain some control,” she said.
Assisted dying will become law in England and Wales only if both the House of Commons and House of Lords agree on the final wording of the Bill.
The bill was given a second reading in the Lords without a vote and is now entering committee stage.
If it does pass into law, the government has four years in which to get an assisted dying service into place, meaning it could be 2029/30 before the first assisted death takes place.
