00:00Kill the bill, not the ill. Kill the bill, not the ill.
00:04Our freedom, our choice, listen to our voice.
00:09A last-ditch attempt outside parliaments before MPs vote on an issue, literally, of life and death.
00:15Campaigners here will tell you deeply affecting stories, both for and against assisted dying.
00:21I'm here because I'm here supporting my mum and dad in the decision that they want for their life.
00:26And I think everybody has a choice in their life, or whatever way they want to go,
00:30and they should have a choice in their death as well.
00:32It's called assisted dying bill, but it's really assisted suicide.
00:36And I just think we need to stand up and say it's just not right.
00:39Labour MP Kim Leadbeater introduced the terminally ill adults end of life bill back in October,
00:45and it passed its second reading in the Commons in November.
00:49Today, she opened the debate for the third reading.
00:52It is not often we are asked to wrestle with issues of morality, ethics and humanity.
00:57But with great privilege of this job comes great responsibility,
01:01and never more so than at a time like this.
01:03The bill would allow assisted dying for some terminally ill adults with fewer than six months to live.
01:09It would require approval from two doctors and a three-member panel,
01:13including a social worker, a senior legal figure and a psychiatrist.
01:17MPs had a free vote on this bill, so their conscience, rather than their party, influenced their decision.
01:24Vote trackers suggested enough members would vote for the bill to pass,
01:28but many in the chamber raised concerns with the proposed legislation.
01:32Why are the vast majority of palliative care doctors, geriatricians and groups representing people with disabilities,
01:40eating disorders and domestic violence, all in opposition, not to this principle, but to this bill?
01:45It will change forever, that relationship of trust between the GP and the patient,
01:50in a negative way that will never change ever again.
01:53We know that there will be circumstances where assisted dying will be on a statutory basis,
02:00and provision of palliative care will not.
02:03That hospices are underfunded, and that they do not have the same ability to serve patients.
02:08So I do gently question whether we are in a position today to make a judgment
02:11that patients truly would have a choice at end of life.
02:15Order.
02:16This was one of the most consequential decisions these MPs will ever face.
02:20The eyes to the right, 314.
02:24The nose to the left, 291.
02:29Which was reflected in the silence that greeted the narrow result.
02:33A majority of just 23 in favour.
02:36Barry's first wife, Sheila, suffered a painful death after being diagnosed with lung cancer.
02:41He is now facing terminal cancer himself, and is in favour of the bill,
02:46whilst his second wife, Irene, is against.
02:49Let's worry now about trying to make it as safe as possible,
02:53so that there aren't people coerced and, you know, inheritances looked at and all that sort of thing.
03:00Let's get the safeguards now in place,
03:03um, to make it so that everyone is comfortable,
03:08not just us who voted for it.
03:10You see the person that's there in front of you.
03:12You don't know what they're like as a normal person.
03:16They're in pain.
03:17They're ill.
03:18That's not the real person, is it?
03:20Um, and you're getting a doctor in and a judge and what have you.
03:24How will they be able to make a decision for somebody?
03:27I can't see how that's going to work.
03:29Whether for or against the bill,
03:32many accept its primary motivation to ease suffering.
03:35There's been no lack of compassion on either side.
03:38There remain concerns, though, over coercion of the vulnerable
03:41and whether the focus has shifted away from dignity in life to dignity in death.
03:46The bill will now move on to the House of Lords to face further scrutiny.
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