The assisted dying bill will now be subject to even more scrutiny – as it should be Editorial: Kim Leadbeater has dropped the plan for her private member’s bill to require a High Court judge to sign off someone’s application to die – she now faces an added battle to convince MPs beyond reasonable doubt that the system is safe.
It is rare for an amendment to a private member’s bill at the report stage to elbow its way into the headlines; but the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill – commonly known as the assisted dying bill – is no routine piece of legislation.
To the bill’s opponents and the more sceptically minded, it cannot sit well when what was advertised as the bill’s uniquely strong safeguard in global comparisons – the High Court judge – should be jettisoned at this stage.
It would be doubly unfortunate if it emerged that the Ministry of Justice had informally raised objections about the burden on the system that would be imposed if a great number of cases had to be heard by busy High Court judges.
Continuing parliamentary and ministerial scrutiny of the system would be enhanced by the establishment of an assisted dying commission, chaired by a High Court justice, as now proposed.
