Biography
Lord Falconer of Thoroton engaged extensively with the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill through 40 debate speeches, primarily addressing procedural matters, safeguards for healthcare professionals and institutions, and implementation details. He expressed disappointment that the Bill failed to progress through the House of Lords due to procedural delays rather than substantive objections, and proposed amendments to protect hospices from institutional detriment and clarify protections for staff unwilling to participate. His contributions focused on technical aspects including preliminary discussion requirements, opt-in provisions for medical professionals, and the legal duties of healthcare providers.
Generated from their own Hansard record, below
“…The first is that of Elise Burns, who is in the Gallery today. She has terminal cancer. She said that she would love Peers “to look me in the eye and tell me why me and my friends, and anyone with terminal illness, don’t deserve to die with dignity and to have the choice to die as they choose, without pain”.”
Record by topic
- Assisted dying7th of 390126.0
- Palliative & end of life care14th of 53770.0
- Medical ethics & regulation16th of 22126.0
- Mental health140th of 88424.0
- Cancer98th of 62716.0
- Learning disability & autism442nd of 9018.0
- Rare diseases46th of 2026.0
- Diabetes62nd of 1924.0
- Health inequalities246th of 2892.0
- Elderly care & frailty168th of 2402.0
What they’ve said
“…Members of the public, who support assisted dying by a very large margin, will be asking themselves why Parliament has failed to enact a measure that they believed would and should become law after Members of Parliament voted in favour of it in the other place.”
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · 2026-04-24 · Read on Hansard ↗
“I apologise for intervening but I completely agree with what the noble Baroness has just said. The way in which that would happen is that the Bill would come back from the Commons and we would agree here to put in the amendments that I put in as a result of the power of the noble Baroness’s speeches.”
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · 2026-04-24 · Read on Hansard ↗
“…Frequently, when someone is dying, they have a variety of specialists helping them as part of a team. If assisted dying is what the patient wants, I do not think that the specialist should feel that they have to be completely separated from the rest of the team looking after the patient.…”
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · 2026-03-27 · Read on Hansard ↗
“…There is then a question of whether that includes assisted dying, which is unresolved. If it is to be provided by the NHS then there must be some amendment to that Act, as it refers to the basic constitutional point.”
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · 2026-03-27 · Read on Hansard ↗
“Yes, there can be no duty to raise a question of assisted dying if an Act of Parliament says that there is no duty to raise it. That case, the Montgomery case and the normal negligence cases do not in any way lurk in the background waiting to, as it were, stop this.”
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · 2026-03-27 · Read on Hansard ↗
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