Assisted Dying Vote - Leigh-on-Sea

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Leigh On Sea News: Assisted Dying Vote – DAVID Burton-Sampson has voted for the Assisted Dying Bill in parliament.

Assisted Dying Vote - DAVID Burton-Sampson has voted for the Assisted Dying Bill in parliament.

DAVID Burton-Sampson has voted for the Assisted Dying Bill in parliament.

The MP for Southend West and Leigh said: “Although I am personally against assisted dying because of my Christian faith and personal fears over losing loved ones, I have voted for the Assisted Dying Bill.

“It will now go on to its next stage in the House of Lords before coming back to the Commons with Lords amendments. So there is still some way for the Bill to pass before it becomes law.

“Until this week I had not decided as to which way I was going to vote, but I remained open-minded to the debate.

“I received a significant amount of communication on this sensitive issue and I consulted with my residents by conducting a survey myself. It was split pretty much 50/50 each way.

“Stories like that of my close friend Emma, whose mother died in pain, helped convince me of the argument to change the law with this Bill.

“I think safeguards over coercion and mental capacity have been addressed and I reject the suggestion that this bill will not receive sufficient scrutiny. The debate on assisted dying has been ongoing for many years. There is a significant amount of analysis and information available. It has now gone through hours of scrutiny at the committee and reports stage in the House of Commons and it will, of course, go through the same again in the House of Lords.

“The Bill in front of us now in my view is stronger than the one we had at 2nd reading and contains many more protections.

“I believe in choice. People should be able to make this deeply personal choice the same way we make other decisions in life such as whether to follow a religion or not, whether to marry, whether to have children. People should be allowed to choose how they die when they are reaching that point.

“In a letter I received from the Chair of Healthcare Professionals for assisted dying, signed by more than 50 senior medical professionals, they make the point that end-of-life choice and better palliative care are not mutually exclusive, they go hand in hand. I could not agree more.

“We must continue to improve the palliative care offering in our country as well as the quality of social care. But even with world class palliative care in place, for some, there will still be a need for assisted dying, so that when the time comes and they are at risk of losing their dignity and going through unbearable suffering, then they can make their own choice as to how their death takes place.

“That is why I have voted for the Assisted Dying Bill and I thank all those who have contacted me both for and against this Bill and for sharing your views. They have genuinely helped me to arrive at this decision.”

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