Grandfather's death key in MP's assisted dying vote

Worcestershire MP Harriett Baldwin has said she could not support the assisted dying bill due to the experience of her grandfather.

She said he had at one point been given little chance of survival.

However, he rallied, survived and lived another another 20 years.

MPs backed a bill to legalise assisted dying on Friday, which means it goes forward, with several other stages before a final vote to create legislation.

Baldwin said she understood people would have strong views on both sides of the argument but added she had seen how hard it was to predict the moment when someone might die.

"Treatments are changing all the time - the medical profession can sometimes work wonders," she said.

"So I have an issue with the whole principle that you might actually know that you're going to die."

She said she wanted the medical profession to follow the Hippocratic Oath of "do no harm" and focus on saving lives, not ending them.

While Baldwin has a personal interest in the issue, she said she was also looking at it from a legislative point of view.

She said she was "not comfortable" with some things in the bill, such as those doctors who do not want to help their patients end their lives.

"The bill puts an obligation on them in law, if they have that objection in conscience, to find a doctor who will help [the patient]," she said.

Baldwin also said the bill would place extra pressure on an already-overwhelmed legal system.

"What I would say is in terms of the backlog in the NHS, and the backlog in our courts system, I would rather our NHS and our judges focus on that rather than be given this new additional responsibility."

Other MPs from across Herefordshire and Worcestershire also revealed how they intended to vote ahead of Friday's debate.

Five of the two counties' eight MPs told the BBC how they had made up their minds.

Redditch's Labour MP Chris Bloore said he would be voting for the bill to give people at the end of their lives choice and dignity.

"That civil liberty issue and that ability for choice at the very end is what's tipped me over the edge."

He said he had already declared his views in the general election campaign.

"I was clear that if a bill came forward... with the right safeguards, I would support the bill," he said.

"It's a big change in the way our health system works and how our society thinks about acts about death."

While Worcester's Labour MP Tom Collins said he was not yet firmly decided, he admitted he was currently minded to vote against the bill.

"There are devastating and heartbreaking experiences on both sides of this debate," he said.

"This is all about choice."

"My concern is that at the moment we have a real under-delivery of good quality of palliative care.

"Some have awful experiences... medically and emotionally. Opening the door in that context could present people with some really bad choices."

"My view is that really need to go and fix palliative care."

Wyre Forest's Conservative MP Mark Garnier said he had long been convinced of the merits of allowing assisted dying.

Earlier this year he wrote about his mother's experience after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

"My mother died over a decade ago... there was no cure and she was 86 years old," he said.

"Yet she received help to allow her to die a painless but undignified death in a way that could have dragged on for months."

"She, I knew, was keen to end it quickly."

Garnier said in recent weeks he had tried to challenge his views by meeting with opponents of the bill, including the Bishop of Dudley and former Paralympian Tanni Grey-Thompson.

But he said he had yet to be convinced his decision was the wrong one.

Droitwich and Evesham's Conservative MP Nigel Huddleston said he had changed his mind on assisted dying many times over the years, but had ultimately decided to vote against it.

"On something as important as this, I need to be absolutely convinced if I was going to vote in favour that I was doing the right thing," he said. "And I’m afraid I’m not there.

“I’ve got concerns about the bill - I’m worried about the slippery slope argument.

“I’ve seen very strong arguments in favour but I’m afraid I’ve got too many doubts to be confident that I would be doing the right thing by voting in favour so I’ll be voting against the bill."

North Herefordshire's Green MP Ellie Chowns said she would be voting for the bill after careful thought and consultation with experts.

She said hundreds of people had emailed her about the issue.

"It is clearly a very, very sensitive issue, but for me fundamentally it's about enabling those who have very little time left to live some degree of choice, dignity and autonomy."

"So many people in that situation have told me that is something that they really, really want, and I believe we should support them as a society," she said.

Two Conservative MPs in Herefordshire and Worcestershire have not publicly revealed their views or stated how they will vote: Hereford and South Herefordshire's Jesse Norman and Bromsgrove MP Bradley Thomas.

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