Member

I will mention two other matters covered by my amendments and those of the noble Lord, Lord Pannick. We propose that, in the first medical consultation, the doctors should take the patient through all the options available, including palliative care and the hospice opportunity. Having sat through the whole Committee stage so far, I have further concluded that, on Report, we should formally build into either the first or second consultation a requirement for the medical practitioner to explore whether the individual’s request is influenced by any of the following factors: an inaccurate prognosis; their vulnerability, particularly resulting from disability; their mental incapacity; their financial concerns; or, finally, their possible exposure to coercion. Moreover, help is at hand from the assisted dying help service, which would offer an alternative to assisted death for anyone found to be at risk in any of those ways.