Poppy Bilderbeck, whose mum died of cancer last summer, has accused peers of a “massive breach of their authority and power” for frustrating plans to legalise assisted dying
A 26-year-old whose mum died of cancer last summer has accused peers of a “massive breach of their authority and power” for frustrating plans to legalise assisted dying.
Poppy Bilderbeck, whose mum Kate died of terminal pancreatic cancer just days after her 59th birthday in August, accused peers of treating assisted dying as a “yes or no” issue like Brexit.
“Unlike Brexit, this is literal human lives,” she told The Mirror. “It feels like the House of Lords are just kind of taking hold of their power and their authority, which has not been backed or been supported by the general public, which just feels like a massive breach of their authority and power.”
Ms Bilderbeck said she believes the option of an assisted death would’ve given her mum “peace and comfort” at the end of her life. In her dying days, her mum was sometimes unable to recognise her and would wake up only when she was in pain, she said.
READ MORE: Keir Starmer under pressure over assisted dying law as 100 Labour MPs make major demand
“It feels so unfair that the bill isn’t going to be passed because I just wouldn’t wish anyone else to go through what me and my mum had to go through and it’s avoidable, which makes it all the more frustrating.”
Ms Bilderbeck said her mum wanted as much control as possible over her illness. “When she got diagnosed, the day after, she was actually planning her funeral, planning what flowers she was going to have,” she said.
she wanted to try and control as much as possible kind of the rest of her life and the memories that people were going to be left with, and doing bucket list things with friends and like going her, the reason she decided to go into hospice, and really
But her mum was not afforded control over her death. Ms Bilderbeck added: “I think having her being able to have control would have given her a lot of peace and comfort knowing that she could choose, and it would be, it would be a dignified death.”
In an historic vote last June, MPs voted to legalise assisted dying by 314 to 291 – a majority of 23. But the bill has since stalled in the Lords, with a small group of opposing peers accused of filibustering, a tactic used to deliberately waste time in a debate so it falls.
The bill is expected to run out of time when the parliamentary session ends next month. Charity Dignity in Dying, which campaigns for the legalisation, said 1% of peers have taken more than a third (34%) of speaking time, with just 790 amendments to the legislation having been debated over 1,283 put forward.
Ms Bilderbeck, who is a journalist, said the process has been “immensely disrespectful” to terminally ill people and their families. “It feels like personal agendas or personal vendettas, rather than having a conversation or having a debate. That’s what it should be about,” she said.
“And you should open into it with genuine curiosity and good intentions, and even if you have doubts it should be to try and find the right, morally correct thing to do. That doesn’t mean saying the bill is perfect. That doesn’t mean just pushing it through. That doesn’t mean not taking time over it.
“Bit it certainly doesn’t mean stalling it or suggesting amendments which actually are just a waste of everyone’s time, which is even more disrespectful given actually the time we’re talking about is people who have limited time on this planet.”
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) has already received over 200 hours of scrutiny across both the Commons and the Lords, more than most Government Bills.
The law would allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales with fewer than six months to live to apply for an assisted death, subject to approval by two doctors and a panel featuring a social worker, senior legal figure and psychiatrist.