Under a forthcoming amendment to the Assisted Dying Bill, sufferers from Motor Neurone Disease, Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative disorders could be included. At the moment, the Bill states that patients must be “likely to die within six months”. The presents a problem for sufferers from most neurological sufferers because their illnesses are unlikely to be so predictable.
The new amendment will seek to extend the time limit to twelve months instead for such patients.
It will be moved by Tom Gordon, the Liberal Democrat MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough. Tom voted on favour of the Bill at Second Reading and was selected for the Committee as a presumed “supporter”, There are 23 members of which 14 are “supporters” and 9 are “opponents”, thus reflecting the division of opinion within the House of Commons itself when it voted on the Bill in November. Until now, the Committee has invariably voted along those lines, more or less, as individual amendments have been taken.
Tom’s amendment could possibly cross those lines. Many supporters believe that the six month criterion is too tightly drawn. Apparently one or two of the opponents feel that the Bill would be fairer all round if there was no apparent exclusion of people with Parkinson’s or early stage dementia. In fact, some of the opponents are not actually opposed in principle – just worried about its practicability in its present form.
It will be up to Tom Gordon himself to decide whether or not the amendment should be put to a vote. If he does so, then whatever the result, the consequence could well be the basis for further debate in the House of Commons itself during the Bill’s later stages.
