Sarah Olney

I will not; I am sorry. The amendment would help to inform the clinical judgment that will need to be made in each individual case and discourage patients from applying to multiple doctors for an assessment. I am proud to support amendment 24, tabled by the hon. Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford (Daniel Francis), which would disapply the presumption in the Mental Capacity Act 2005 that a person has capacity unless the opposite is established. There was a great deal of debate in Committee about the efficacy of the Mental Capacity Act and whether its provisions were sufficient to establish an individual’s capacity to make an informed decision about whether to seek an assisted death. The hon. Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford spoke compellingly in Committee about his experiences of how the Act is not always applied effectively. I am glad that the whole House has had an opportunity to hear him today. The Royal College of Psychiatrists cited the insufficiency of the Mental Capacity Act as one of its nine reasons for opposing the Bill earlier in the week. It said: “The Mental Capacity Act was created to safeguard and support people who do not have the capacity to make decisions about their care or treatment or matters like finances. Should the Bill become law in England and Wales, implications for both the Mental Capacity Act and Mental Health Act need to be considered.” I also support new clauses 1 and 2, tabled by the hon. Member for Hackney South and Shoreditch (Dame Meg Hillier), which would prohibit health professionals from raising the subject of assisted dying with a patient. It is my personal belief that people’s rights to pain relief and palliative care towards a natural end should be prioritised above an assisted dying pathway, and that that should be made available only as the result of a specific request. It is particularly important that young people under the age of 18 should not be thinking about assisted dying as an alternative to continued treatment or palliative care. I was disappointed that during Committee my proposed amendments to safeguard people suffering from eating disorders were rejected. Eating disorders are primarily a mental health condition but have an obvious physical impact, and there is a severe risk that the physical impact of an eating disorder can be diagnosed as a terminal illness, when in fact eating disorders are always treatable. We cannot allow vulnerable sufferers from eating disorders to elect for an assisted death when there remains the possibility of a full recovery and the chance of a happy and fulfilling future. That is why I support amendment 14, in the name of the hon. Member for Bradford West (Naz Shah), who was such an articulate member of the Bill Committee. I was glad to hear that the lead Member, the hon. Member for Spen Valley, will adopt that amendment; I look forward to seeing the further drafting. I also support amendment 16, tabled by the hon. Member for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green (Florence Eshalomi). I welcome the lead Member’s new clause 10, which extends the right to refuse to participate in assisted dying to any person, but it is important also to extend that right to organisations such as hospices and care homes. Assisted dying undermines those institutions’ mission and purpose, and they should have the right to refuse to provide it on their premises if they do not wish to participate in it. Finally, I will speak in favour of amendment 22, tabled by the name of the hon. Member for Shipley (Anna Dixon). There is insufficient provision in the legislation to identify and seek to ameliorate mental health conditions or other factors that may lead people to seek a premature end to their life, which they would not seek if those factors were addressed. Every time a person seeks to end their life prematurely is deeply regrettable, and we have a duty to explore whether preventable factors could be addressed before a request for assisted dying is granted.