Brain tumour patient urges compassion from peers considering assisted dying law

An 82-year-old recently diagnosed with a brain tumour and given just a few months to live has urged policy and lawmakers to have “compassion” and not allow their “biases” to get in the way of legalising assisted dying.

The grandmother spoke out as peers in the House of Lords return to consider the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill on Friday.

Wishing only to be known as Ed from England, she branded the law as it stands “cruel” and called on peers – who have the power to amend but also vote against the Bill – to acknowledge the “desperation” people like her might feel and the yearning for some control over their situations.

Debate on the Bill when it was last before the House of Lords main chamber in September saw it branded a “‘licence to kill’ Bill”, while other opponents said it would “devalue the importance of human life and suggested it could lead to death becoming the “default solution to perceived suffering”.

But, speaking in support of it, Ed said her “nightmare” began around six weeks ago when she was told she had an inoperable tumour affecting multiple areas of her brain and which grew in size by around a third in just 10 days between two MRI scans.

Having prided herself as being “very fit and active” for her age, she told how she is now having issues with her sight and finds the future “quite scary” in terms of how her illness might progress.

In an interview with the PA news agency, she said: “I think that as a caring society, we should accept that if people need support in their lives, they may also need support in their deaths.

“Let’s give people some dignity and choice in their life and support them. It’s a whole-life thing, I think, to support people through life and through death, if that’s what they want.

“And I think we should have compassion. And the people who are making the decisions and influencing, I would like them to really have a good look at their own lives, and see where their biases are coming from.”

The current Westminster Bill will become law in England and Wales only if both the House of Commons and House of Lords agree on the final wording of the legislation – with approval needed before spring when this session of Parliament ends.

If it does pass into law, the Government has four years in which to get an assisted dying service into place, meaning it could be 2029/30 before the first assisted death happens.

While this is likely to be too late for Ed, given her two to three-month prognosis, she said for others in future legalised assisted dying would provide them with a choice near the end.

She told PA: “I’m planning for my end-of-life celebration. I’m getting it all in place so that the family don’t have to worry about it. It’s all going to be an orderly plan, because that’s the way I like my life.

“So if I could have an orderly plan for such time as I decide enough is enough, I’ve come to the end of the line, I don’t want to go on. If it was simple and orderly, it would be very, very comforting, very, very nice, and I think that’s what we should be aiming for.”

Asked for her message to peers in the Lords, she said: “Please don’t employ delay tactics. Please let this Bill be addressed in proper time. Do your best to not prolong the concerns by delaying things.

“And also, I think, be honest and bite the bullet that we need help for people. I think it needs to be an easier route.”

There have been concerns among some of the Bill’s backers that peers against the proposed legislation would try to block it or “talk it out” so that it runs out of time to become law in this current session of Parliament.

It was confirmed on Thursday that more than 900 amendments have been put down for the Bill – the highest number ever tabled to a piece of back bench legislation.

The legislation proposes allowing terminally ill adults with fewer than six months to live to apply for an assisted death.

This would be subject to approval by two doctors and a panel featuring a social worker, senior legal figure and psychiatrist.