Assisted dying and coercion

[ArabellaScott]

This is live right now, so I'm not sure how well linking to it will work. Copy-pasting below, aswell.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cy5k0qyled2t

'Rachel Clarke, a palliative care doctor, opts to answer a question about coercion and whether some MPs are right to feel concerned about this when considering the bill. (Earlier, MPs heard how medical and clinic staff are trained in safeguarding, though a retired GP acknowledged coercion was hard to spot.)
Clarke says she'd "strongly push back" on the suggestion coercion is something all medical staff are trained in spotting.
"I'm the kind of doctor who believes there is nothing to be gained by sugar-coating reality...about shortcomings, failings, areas where my profession the rest of the NHS are getting things wrong", she tells MPs.
"It is my clinical experience that not only are the majority of doctors not necessarily trained in spotting coercion explicitly, they're often not trained explicitly in having so-called advanced care planning conversations with patients around the topic of death and dying."'

I wonder if the Lords are able to put in enough safeguards to make the bill less dangerous. My instinctive feeling is that it would be better to start over, because the process has been done so shoddily and the bill needs absolutely rock solid foundations to build on, so that details are on firm ground.

But perhaps if the following issues are looked at more closely it could be salvaged:

Coercion
Palliative Care
Disability
Capacity
-and I do wonder about changing the NHS founding principles, it seems like an absolutely enormous shift that's been whisked through with barely a glance or discussion.

Letter writing campaign to HoL?

The question of what the approved drugs will be also needs to be discussed.

''There is no explicit requirement for those substances to undergo specific, rigorous testing for their use in assisted dying.''

''Amendment 96 tabled by the hon. Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham (Dr Johnson), which
“ensures that drugs can only be approved if the Secretary of State is reasonably of the opinion that there is a scientific consensus that the drug is effective at ending someone’s life without causing pain or other significant adverse side effects.”
hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2025-06-13/debates/AD5D60DD-BDA2-4E12-A854-E2A356E1CF58/TerminallyIllAdults(EndOfLife)Bill

Not sure if this is the most recent thread but just sharing link to new survey by The Other Half - a new centre of research for practical, workable policy in the interests of women.

https://theotherhalf.uk/mega-poll-assisted-death-2026

Lauren Edwards MP came second in the Private Members’ Bill ballot, which is a lottery that gives individual politicians an opportunity to change the law. The higher the politician comes in the ballot, the more parliamentary time they have and the higher the chances are of changing the law.

The Parliament Act means that if the same Bill is approved twice by the elected House of Commons, it does not require the House of Lords’ approval, and can become law.

The Bill still goes through every single step, including the House of Lords again. The only thing the Parliament Act does is ensure that the elected politicians have the final say, not the unelected Lords. The House of Lords can still debate, suggest changes, and vote on the Bill. The only thing it cannot do is block it again. If the Bill is filibustered in the House of Lords again, or if it is voted down, or they suggest changes that wreck the Bill that the House of Commons then reject, the Bill would still become law.

https://humanists.uk/2026/06/14/lauren-edwards-mp-announces-return-of-the-assisted-dying-bill-after-lords-filibuster/

Was assisted dying part of a manifesto commitment? Has there been a ballot?

As the post says she is second in the ballot for a private members bill.

She has chosen to restart the one started by Kim Leadbeater after she was first in the last ballot.

And the rules are that because it has been put forward once and been "scrutinised" first time round it wont need to be second time around.

So a bill that most people said was badly written, badly organised, etc., etc., is likely to become law.

That's why I posed on this thread because so many had concerns about how unprofessional the whole process had been.

So as so many people say "life is a lottery".