Sarah Smith

I am sure that I am not the only Member who came to this place because I felt that the voices of the people I wanted to represent are seldom heard, and I felt a duty to ensure that they were heard in decision making at the highest level. While I am the Member of Parliament for everyone in Hyndburn and Haslingden, and I recognise that many people in my constituency might support the principle of an assisted death, when I vote today, I must consider the perspective of the many hundreds of people who have written to me for whom this Bill is a terrifying prospect. Many of those who have written to me are disabled; caring for severely disabled children or family members; people who are getting older, and who worry that they will become a burden; or people who know that because of the colour of their skin, they will face different treatment in our NHS, and who worry about what that would mean for them or their elderly parents. We must all consider the privilege that we in this place hold. We have the confidence to challenge a doctor’s assessment, and to turn down the suggestion of assisted death, and the belief that we might be able to afford the care that we need when we are older, and so can make a true choice about how we might die. However, we must remember that this is not the experience of most people, and certainly not the experience of those with lower levels of education, those from ethnic minority backgrounds, those with disabilities, or those who are struggling to make ends meet. For them, the suggestion made by a doctor may easily sound like a decision based on what is best for them. The likelihood of their mental capacity being accurately assessed is far lower than it would be for many of us. For them, and indeed for most of us, the assessment of how long they have left to live is often hugely inaccurate.