Kevin McKenna

I thank everyone who has contributed to this debate, both inside and outside the House. There has been a great deal of passion, and sometimes that passion flares up while we debate this really intense and personal subject, and obscures the deep and profound compassion that we all feel. How each of us faces death is deeply personal, and the decisions surrounding it must honour every individual’s dignity and choice. Our goal must be to ensure that all patients are protected, while we empower people at their end of their life with greater autonomy and agency to make the choices that are right for them. Having spent many years as an intensive care nurse in the NHS, I have witnessed the realities of end-of-life care countless times. I have seen patients find peace in their final days, but also patients who have been unconscious or unaware that their death was coming. I have seen others endure pain and anxiety that no palliative intervention—none—would alleviate for them. Those experiences have deeply influenced my perspective on assisted dying. They have reinforced my belief that individuals should have the autonomy to make decisions about such a personal and profound part of their life—the end of their life. That is fundamental to dignity at the end of life. Consent must always be freely given, fully informed and revocable at any time, as it is right now for anyone who agrees to, or decides not to, undertake onerous, painful treatment that medical and clinical staff say might save or extend their life. Every one of us can refuse treatment. It is so important to understand that, because we have had lots of discussion about coercion. I have to lay it out for the House: there is a lot of coercion in the system currently. Well-meaning families and clinicians provide a degree of coercion. Clinicians, clinical teams and multidisciplinary teams are set up to try to detect that, and to have conversations with patients to get to the nub of their real wishes. I have a lot of faith in my clinical colleagues, and I have faith that this happens, as a result of collective action by multidisciplinary teams—that is how healthcare works today. I am really pleased that after extensive debate on this Bill, particularly in Committee, we have gone from a judge making the decision to having a panel, because that reflects best practice in clinical work. We now have a multidisciplinary team and a multidisciplinary approach to assessing what the patients wants.