Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson raises concerns for disabled community after government passes assisted dying bill
Former Paralympian, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson has raised her concerns for the disabled community in the wake of the government passing the assisted dying bill through the House of Commons.
Grey-Thompson sits in the House of Lords and has stated she hopes to amend the bill and make it stronger so that disabled people are less likely to be coerced into agreeing to assisted dying.
The baroness said, "Right now a lot of disabled people are worried and this is the job of the Lords, line by line legislation."
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was approved by 341 votes to 291 at its third reading in the House of Commons, a majority of 23.
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'I would say anecdotally that there are people coming through who are less unwell (than in the past). Then we have the whole question of how we help; is it really helpful or might it be harmful? I don't think it is a good thing for lots of people to be on antidepressants or other forms of drug treatment.' Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, has pledged to provide school counsellors in all secondary schools in England. Campaigners say this does not go far enough and want mental health professionals at primary level too. But Prof Moncrieff said the move could have unintended negative consequences. 'The worry is that they could end up identifying and labelling more kids and sending them off to CAMHS,' she said. 'The best case scenario is counsellors reduce the need because pupils have someone to talk to and that helps. But I do worry that we have such a mental health-obsessed culture now that most people think they are doing the right thing by labelling children and referring them.'
