Rachael Maskell, MP for York Central, said the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is a “fundamental misunderstanding of its impact on medicine”.
“We have got to fix palliative care first and foremost, yet this Bill draws more resources away from providing care. I will vote against,” the Labour MP said.
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill will be debated and likely voted on November 29, the first Commons vote on assisted dying since 2015.
Labour MP Kim Leadbeater has described her proposed legislation as the “most robust” in the world, as she stated she expects hundreds of dying people might initially opt to use a service which could see patients press a button to end their lives.
Opposition campaigners have raised fears of coercion and a slippery slope to wider legislation taking in more people.
But Ms Leadbeater has rejected those arguments, saying her Bill has “three layers of scrutiny” in the form of a sign-off by two doctors and a High Court judge, and would make coercion an offence with a possible punishment of 14 years in jail.
Recommended reading:
- What is in the new Bill on assisted dying?
- ‘Robust’ assisted dying Bill unveiled as PM says MPs won’t be pressured on vote
- Esther Rantzen: Assisted dying Bill wonderful but law would be too late for me
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