Assisted Dying: A discussion about the legal and ethical issues which Parliament will soon confront

Overview

In a further development, press reports suggest the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is expected to be published on Tuesday just ahead of this event.

The last few in-person places are available, and remote attendance by zoom is also possible for Landmark Chambers' Assisted Dying seminar at 4.30pm on 12 November 2024 to discuss the legal and ethical issues around assisted dying. This seminar is being held in advance of the Second Reading of a new private members Bill on (the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill) which is due to be debated In Parliament on 29 November 2024.

We will hear from a panel consisting of Lord Mance, Rebecca Wilcox, David Lock KC, Fiona Scolding KC and Alex Goodman KC on the landscape of assisted dying laws in the UK and across the world and about the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill which is due to be published on Tuesday just ahead of this event.

About the Speakers:

Lord Mance was appointed to the House of Lords in 2005 where he spent four years as a Law Lord before becoming a Justice of the Supreme Court on its formation in 2009 and its Deputy President in 2017-2018. In giving judgment in the majority in R (Nicklinson) v Ministry of Justice [2015] 1 AC 657 he held that assisted dying was a matter for parliament, rather than judges, to decide. In 2021 he spoke in the House of Lords in favour of Baroness Meacher’s Assisted Dying Bill.

David Lock KC was Public Law Silk of the Year 2020. He formerly served as a Member of Parliament and a legal Minister. He served for 10 years as an expert member of the British Medical Association Ethics Committee and is currently a non-executive member of the Human Tissue Authority. He now sits part time as a Deputy High Court Judge in the King’s Bench and Family Divisions. He is joint editor of NHS Law and Practice (2024).

Fiona Scolding KC has spent much of her time in silk involved in public inquiries under the Inquiries Act 2005 including the Covid Inquiry, the Shrewsbury and NHS Trust inquiry, Independent Inquiry for Child Sexual Abuse; and the Infected Blood Inquiry.

Alex Goodman KC is joint head of Landmark Chambers’ Administrative and Public Law Team. Recent cases include R (ASY) v SSHD [2024] EWCA Civ 373 concerning inhuman and degrading treatment from destitution, and the Brook House Inquiry concerning article 3 violations against immigration detainees. He is co-author of a text book on human rights to be published next year.

Rebecca Wilcox is a television presenter, consumer journalist, and Deputy President of ChildLine. She became an outspoken part of the Assisted Dying campaign shortly after finding out that her mother, Dame Esther Rantzen, who had just been diagnosed with terminal stage 4 lung cancer, had joined Dignitas and fully intended to "Buzz off to Switzerland" if the need arose.