PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
EUTHANASIA (8 January 2003)

That this House notes persistent statements by the Government rejecting euthanasia; regrets however, that in correspondence the Parliamentary Secretary to the Lord Chancellor's Department now asserts that the consultation document, Making Decisions, is based upon the Law Commission 1995 Report on Mental Incapacity, a document which the Conservative Government refused to implement because it would weaken the legal prohibition on euthanasia (Hansard, 16th January 1996; columns 487-88); notes also that the Law Commission's report contradicts the 1994 Report of the House of Lords Select Committee on Medical Ethics which the Labour Government has consistently claimed to support; recalls that the Select Committee opposed euthanasia and the enshrining in Statute Law the judgement in Airedale NHS Trust v Bland 1992 which permitted the withdrawal of assisted food and fluid from Mr Tony Bland with the purpose of ending his life; notes, however, that the Parliamentary Secretary's correspondence asserts that the Government's policy on the withdrawal of assisted food and fluid is based on 'settled opinion ... as expressed by the medical profession and by the judiciary as expressed in case law'; notes, however, that Bland and subsequent judgements allow only the withdrawal of tubal feeding from PVS and similar cases on application to the courts; notes that the courts have not authorised the extension of this practice of non-voluntary euthanasia by omission to include other medical conditions; and calls on the Government to withdraw 'Making Decisions; Helping People Who Have Difficulty Deciding for Themselves'.

Sponsored by:
Jim Dobbin (Labour)