Speeches by Shah.

“Q Thank you very much for coming today and sharing your stories. I have two questions. Julie, you said that you had family liaison and counselling. How long did that go on for? This Bill does not have that requirement, so do you think it is something that we should put in it? Julie Thienpont: Maybe I said “counselling”…”

“Q Dr Richards, you were talking about elderly people in particular. We have heard evidence, particularly yesterday, about young women under 40 where terminal illness was deemed legislatively applicable to anorexia. It appears that that is quite a phenomenon. When we talk about the explicit conversation that you are sug…”

“Q My question is to Dr Richards. I will get to where I need to get to, so bear with me. You talk about this being a very explicit conversation, but I would argue that that is not entirely true. We are talking about a set of doctors who will have opted in to have that conversation; not all doctors will do that. We have …”

“Q Professor Preston, in your written evidence to the Committee, you said that Parliament should: “Consider whether there should be a stated exception to the usual presumption of capacity under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 in the Bill.” What kind of standard do you think Parliament should consider adopting instead of th…”

“Q Professor Owen, yesterday Professor Allan House gave evidence and talked about capacity and coercion, and I want to pick up on some of the concerns. In all four of the jurisdictions that collect data on the issue—Oregon, Canada, Western Australia and Washington—between 35% and 59% of people cite being a burden as a r…”

“Q We have had lots of witnesses testifying about gaps in palliative care and end-of-life care provision here in the UK. What is the current state of palliative care and end-of-life care provision in Western Australia, please? Dr Furst: I am in South Australia, but a recent survey by Palliative Care Australia surveyed o…”

“Q To follow up on that, there is no requirement that the doctor is present when the person self-administers the substance that leads to assisted dying. Am I correct? If that is the case, why does the law not make it necessary for the doctor to remain present until death, because at that point, the doctor would pick up …”

“Q Before I move on to Chelsea, I want to point out that Professor Shakespeare said that most disabled people support the Bill. But, actually, only one deaf and disabled people’s organisation that opposes it is giving evidence. I just wanted that point noted for the Committee. Chelsea, thank you for your evidence. Eatin…”

“Q I have a quick question for Dr Griffiths and then Chelsea. Dr Griffiths, how does the Bill exacerbate issues for disabled women in particular who might be experiencing abuse or other vulnerabilities? Dr Griffiths: There is no indication of how you would place the infrastructure for support for people whose discrimina…”

“Q Richard, thank you for coming in at such short notice. It is very much appreciated. Do you have concerns about whether the safeguards in the Bill adequately protect against coercion and vulnerability as Professor House has just described? Richard Robinson: Yes, we have concerns. I understand there is a potential amen…”

“Q Finally, to Dr Mullock, you have said that in all jurisdictions that have legalised assisted dying, the only meaningful gatekeeping is done by medical professionals. We only have retrospective monitoring that is primarily reliant on honest reporting, particularly discovering whether, or how frequently, coercion or fl…”

“Q I have one question following up with Baroness Falkner; then I will come to you, Fazilet, if I may. The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s briefing says that “to ensure that assisted dying is compatible with Article 2 and Article 3 rights…high-quality palliative care should be available to all who need it.” Given…”

“Q Fazilet, doctors are members of a caring profession, but there are ways in which—wittingly or unwittingly—they can end up coercing disabled people; there are reports of that. Would I be right in saying that? If so, how does this happen and how common is this experience for disabled people? Fazilet Hadi: Disabled peop…”

“Q Thank you to all of you and for what you do. I will direct my question to Dr Jamilla—it is so lovely to hear so much about Bradford. I want to talk about what Dr Rachel Clarke said yesterday. She said that when patients had begged her to end their life, it was not because of the cancer but because they had not receiv…”

“Q Professor House, you have said that people applying for assisted dying may be in a state of vulnerability. What is vulnerability and how can the Bill be amended to make sure that vulnerable people do not inappropriately choose assisted dying? Professor House: Vulnerability is not just an inherent characteristic of in…”

“Q Building on that, Chris Whitty and the British Medical Association said, from an ethnic minorities and reflection point of view, that the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and safeguarding training are fit for purpose. We know that we do not have a workforce that is reflective of the communities it serves and that we do not h…”

“Q Thank you. The Australian and British media reported the tragic story of Cyril Tooze, an elderly and terminally ill 84-year-old man in southern Australia, who requested voluntary assisted dying. Mr Tooze stated that he was applying for voluntary assisted dying after waiting nearly a year for the state government to i…”

“Q I have a couple of questions. Dr Fellingham, Victoria is quite a rural state and I imagine there are difficulties reaching all parts of it. Am I right that a state-wide pharmacy service that delivers assisted dying drugs across the whole state has been set up, but there is no comparable service for the delivery of pa…”

“I was talking about southern Australia, in particular. That is fine; we can move on. Thank you. Dr McLaren: I can speak to the Victoria question, if you prefer. To answer your question, we have a state-wide service that supplies the medication across the state. Medication for pain relief is available through standard p…”

“Q I have just one question, and it is for Sir Max. You have said that you were very concerned about the CPS, during your time at DPP, having to investigate people who accompanied their loved ones to Switzerland to end their lives. I share that concern. However, my understanding is that around half of those who currentl…”