Definition of terminal illness ‘blurred’, says MP ahead of assisted dying vote

The definition of a terminal illness is “very blurred” and the Westminster Bill on assisted dying will not deliver the choice it promises, a Labour MP has warned.

Dr Zubir Ahmed, who worked as an NHS cancer surgeon before his election in June, also said the medication proposed for ending a patient’s life would not be “pain free and suffering free”.

However Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine, a supporter of Kim Leadbeater’s Bill, argued it has some of the strongest safeguards of any such law in the world.

Both politicians appeared on the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland radio programme on Friday, ahead of a vote in the House of Commons on the Bill.

Dr Ahmed, the MP for Glasgow South West, drew on his experience of being a surgeon for 20 years.

He said: “I’ve read this Bill cover to cover many times. Unfortunately, every time I read it I get more and more concerned that it’s not going to deliver.

“When it leaves the laboratory of legislation and gets dispatched to the bedside and clinical frontline, it’s not going to deliver the aims it’s trying to bring about of choice and control.

“I can tell you as a doctor, the definition of terminal illness is very blurred as medical advances expand.

“Predicting who has six months to live – you might as well toss a coin.”

Both the Westminster Bill and similar legislation going through Holyrood explicitly limit the option of assisted dying to those with terminal illnesses.

In the case of the UK Bill, the patient must have a reasonable life expectancy of six months.

Dr Ahmed also raised concerns about the medications proposed for ending a patient’s life, saying there could be unexpected side-effects.

Ms Jardine, the MP for Edinburgh West, said she has supported a change in the law for a long time.

Palliative care “doesn’t work for absolutely everyone”, she said.

“I don’t know what I would do if I was in that situation, if I was facing a terminal diagnosis,” she added.

“But I don’t feel I have the right to deny others the choice.

She said Ms Leadbeater’s Bill “has already some of the strongest safeguards in the world and would be the strictest law in the world if it were to go ahead”.

Any proposal for an assisted death would have to be approved by two doctors and a High Court judge, she said, arguing the Bill cannot extend eligibility to people who do not have terminal illnesses.