Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson spoke at SPUC’s Lives Worth Living event in Middlesbrough last Friday to warn against MP Kim Leadbeater’s assisted suicide bill that threatens disabled people.
Baroness Grey-Thompson, one of the greatest Paralympians of all time, amassed 11 gold medals, four silvers and one bronze in the wheelchair racing event. She was later made a life peer in the House of Lords in 2010.
At a meeting held at St. Thomas More’s Church in Middlesbrough on the evening of Friday, 4 April, Baroness Grey-Thompson brought her political expertise and unique perspective to the issue of assisted suicide.
Baroness Grey-Thompson explained how frightened many disabled people are of the MP Kim Leadbeater’s assisted suicide bill, set to be voted on by MPs next month, and its lack of safeguards – especially the removal of the High Court Judge safeguard. The Leadbeater Committee also rejected many amendments aimed at protecting people with disabilities.
The Baroness also spoke about the very real threat of coercion, an area of particular concern and expertise to her, and she pointed to examples of safeguard erosion in nations like Canada.
She noted her own experience of discrimination as a disabled woman, being told that she shouldn’t have children, and, when she was on the London Underground, that “people like you shouldn’t use the tube when people are trying to get to work”.
80 SPUC supporters and concerned citizens came together to hear about the mortal threat posed by assisted suicide. Clergy from the Diocese of Middlesbrough, including Bishop Terry Drainey, were also in attendance. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive.
Several SPUC branches were represented at the event, including York, Hull, Stockton-on-Tees, Thornaby & Ingleby Barwick, and Middlesbrough. Attendees came from up to nine constituencies across Teesside, North Yorkshire and East Yorkshire.
Alithea Williams, SPUC’s Public Policy Manager, spoke in detail about the current situation of the Leadbeater Bill and the lack of scrutiny during the recently concluded Committee Stage. Ms Williams also explained what people can to do oppose the Leadbeater Bill: most importantly, lobbying MPs, either in-person or through letter writing.
SPUC’s Northern Development Officer, Terry Graham, who chaired the event in Middlesbrough, commented afterwards:
“Kim Leadbeater’s Assisted Suicide Bill is one of the most dangerous pieces of proposed legislation to be voted on by MPs in years. If it passes, it will fundamentally change the fabric of our society, with untold implications for the way we treat the sick and dying, and those with disabilities.
“As Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson has rightly pointed out, this bill risks condemning some of the most vulnerable people to coercion and abuse and it would have disastrous consequences for the health service, by devaluing palliative and hospice care and profoundly altering the relationship between doctors and their patients.
“Ms Leadbeater’s appalling handling of the Committee Stage of the Bill has drawn widespread criticism from across the political spectrum and members of the public are rightly alarmed at the way in which proposed safeguards have been dismissed by the Bill’s proponents.
“Our message is clear: this is a dangerous bill that must be defeated, and we urge as many people as possible to urgently contact their MP to voice their opposition.”
SPUC has reported on the worrying process of the Leadbeater Bill and the concerns that many disabled people and groups have regarding the inherent dangers.
During the Committee Stage of the Bill, Labour MP Naz Shah was forced to leave a meeting after her hearing aids ran out of charge after 15 hours of use. Shaz had “repeatedly” raised her disability needs before.
Rajiv Shah, a former special adviser at the Ministry of Justice, commented: “This is how the [Leadbeater] Bill committee accommodates its disabled members. Make of that what you will.”
During a Committee hearing, Dr Miro Griffiths, one of the few disability experts to testify, said that he was “overwhelmingly against the principle of and the clauses set out in the Bill…
“It coalesces with the systemic injustices faced by the disabled people’s communities in the UK… The infrastructure to support [disabled] people either to respond to [assisted suicide] coercion, or to understand that they do not have to be in that position in the first place, is non-existent.”
He continued: “Section 6 of the Equality Act 2010 states that a disabled person is somebody who has a ‘physical or mental impairment’ and the impairment ‘has a substantial and long-term adverse effect’ on their ‘ability to carry out… day-to-day activities’.
“If you have a terminal illness, it is likely that you will be defined within the terms of what is outlined in Section 6, so it is a fundamental flaw, because disabled people will be incorporated within this.”
Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson echoed these concerns last Friday, stating:
“We are told that the Bill is not for disabled people, yet disabled people are very easily able to fit into the six-month diagnosis. For example, we already have doctors in this country talking about terminal anorexia. If a patient with anorexia doesn’t take treatment, they could very easily have a six-month diagnosis. Someone with diabetes could fit into this if they stopped taking their insulin. For someone like me, if I had a pressure sore and it didn’t heal, I could fit into this qualification very easily.”
The Leadbeater Bill proposes to legalise assisted suicide in England and Wales for terminally ill adults given six months to live. The next stage of the Bill will be a second MP debate and vote at Third Reading, now expected to take place on 16 May.
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