Baroness Berger (Lab)

My Lords, I support of Amendments 107, 108 and 109, in the names of my noble friends Lord Hunt of Kings Heath and Lord Rook, who are unable to be with us today for good reasons. These amendments go to the heart of a question the Committee must answer honestly: what level of capacity is required for the state to assist a person to end their life, and, crucially, is the existing framework of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 sufficient for a decision that is irreversible, permanent and final? Amendment 107 addresses a specific but serious problem. Section 3(3) of the Mental Capacity Act provides that a person may be regarded as having capacity even if they can retain relevant information only for a short period. That may be entirely appropriate for many decisions in everyday life, and even for some serious decisions. However, this Bill requires something very different. It requires a person to form, retain, reflect upon and reaffirm a decision to die over an extended period—potentially weeks or months. If someone cannot retain the relevant information beyond a short period, they cannot meaningfully engage with the reflection periods that are built into the Bill. This amendment would therefore disapply Section 3(3) of the Mental Capacity Act for the purposes of assisted dying alone, recognising that the bar for deciding to die must be higher than for any other decision.