Assisted dying bill 'just not safe' warns bishop

The Bishop of Bath and Wells said he was against the Terminally Ill Adults Bill because he did not think the safeguards were good enough.

The Right Reverend Michael Beasley voiced worries about the potential for vulnerable people to be coerced or pressurised into taking their own life.

The bill has been proposed by backbench Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, who argued it would help stop people experiencing "very harrowing" deaths.

Current laws in the UK prevent people from asking for medical help to die.

Under the bill, terminally ill adults expected to die within six months could seek help to end their life if two doctors and a High Court judge verify they are eligible and have made their decision voluntarily.

Bishop Michael said: "The problem I have is how will two doctors know that a person is not being coerced to take their own life?"

"We know how busy our NHS is at the moment and therefore will doctors have the time, the scope, the training, to really understand if someone is being pressurised enough?"

The Bishop has written a public letter setting out his concerns because he felt the voices of the most vulnerable were not being heard.

He warned: "My worry is that once the principle is established that this is permissible, the parameters at which it can happen, may start to move."

Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP behind the bill, said her plan focused on “shortening death rather than ending life,” and ensured "the strictest safeguards anywhere in the world".

The proposed legislation would also make it illegal to pressure or coerce someone into declaring they want to end their life, carrying a possible 14-year prison sentence.

Bishop Michael said: "I could imagine, if we lived in a perfect world, that it might be appropriate, that for some, the choice could be there to enter into assisted suicide."

However he said: "We don't live in a place where everyone's good intention, autonomous choice will be followed and respected; and therefore that's why I'm against this legislation, because it's just not safe".

Bishop Michael, who is the deputy spokesperson for the Church of England on issues of health and social care believed improving palliative care would be "the right way to offer dignity in death to everybody."

MPs are due to debate and vote on the Terminally Ill Adults bill on 29 November.

Members have been given a free vote which means they can follow their conscience rather than party orders.

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