Anneliese Dodds

Anneliese Dodds

Labour (Co-op) — Oxford East

Speaking in the House of Commons on 16 May 2025

Debate

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Contribution

I will make some progress, because I know others wish to speak. I want to speak briefly about subsection (1)(b) of new clause 16, which relates to mental disorder. Colleagues will dispute whether analogies are appropriate, but it is important that the House is aware—this was covered in Committee—that in the Netherlands, which of course has a different regime from the one proposed in the Bill, two cases involving psychiatric suffering were subject to assisted dying in 2010; in 2023, that figure was 138. That is a very substantial increase. I understand that, as was said earlier, it is a completely different set of circumstances in the Dutch case, but I am concerned that there is some confusion about the scope of the mental capacity provisions in the Bill.

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