Member

Before I speak to my noble friend’s amendments specifically, allow me to add that not all illnesses and conditions will have the same range of life expectancy. When we discuss the median, we should also consider the range of the distribution. If one prognosis is based on a range of five to seven months, and another is based on one to 12 months, both result in a median prognosis of six months. But in one case, the patient has a significant chance of living well beyond six months. In that sense, not all median life expectancies are equal. That is where my noble friend’s amendment comes in. It may be that median life expectancy is the only workable test of eligibility that we are able to place on the statute book. But in using this test, it should be made clear to patients what both their prognosis and their eligibility mean.