Member

I find it exceptionally objectionable that, for somebody in those conditions, the state could effectively provide a service to assist them to kill themselves over the phone. That is what we are talking about here. It is conceivable, I suppose, that there could be special circumstances for trying to assess people remotely but, as with everything else in this Bill, if we had worked this thing out properly, we would have covered a lot of this. I think this part of the Bill is fundamentally unsafe. Assessing somebody’s state of mind and what their settled will is would be difficult for a team to do without seeing them face to face, in the room or in their home. We use video links for legal proceedings, but there is a big difference between somebody who has been held on remand for robbery appearing in court through video and somebody who is seeking assistance to end their life. We are not talking about things in the same sphere of influence or effect at all.