Kim Leadbeater: assisted dying bill will still have world’s strongest safeguards MP defends removal of scrutiny by high court judge, as critics say change is ‘rushed and badly thought out’.
The Labour MP’s decision to replace signoff by a court with an expert panel including a lawyer, psychiatrist and social worker caused significant alarm among MPs who had voted for the bill on the basis that a high court judge would oversee each case.
Kim Leadbeater has said her assisted dying bill for England and Wales will still have the strongest safeguards in the world despite the removal of a requirement for scrutiny from a high court judge.
He added: “At that point, it was made very strongly that the principal safeguard for the bill, where people could have confidence that it was going to be safe for vulnerable people, was that there would be a high court judge approving the application.
Leadbeater said the amendment would relieve the court system – as advised by expert witnesses – and add extra protection against people being coerced to end their lives.
