Member

There is a reason why I raise this issue. It has been raised before; my noble friend Lady Berridge and other noble Lords have raised it. I do not think that we have ever had a clear answer on how we can reconcile the provisions of the Bill on assisted suicide with the long-standing and important duties of not only medical professionals but many other professionals, under both this Government and previous ones, including via suicide prevention strategies. We must resolve this issue; otherwise, we will—my noble friend Lady Coffey set this out when she quoted the Medical Defence Union—be putting the professionals whom we would ask to implement this measure, were the Bill to become law, in an invidious position. We would be giving them conflicting legal and professional duties, which we would then expect them to reconcile at considerable risk to themselves.