Former minister with terminal cancer urges MPs not to bring back assisted dying bill

A Labour MP with terminal metastatic breast cancer urged MPs not to bring back an assisted dying bill for England and Wales. She said she has incurable but treatable triple negative breast cancer that has spread throughout her body and that she will be on lifelong treatment. She described chemotherapy that stopped working and a new intravenous chemotherapy she expects to continue as long as it remains effective. She said she found it difficult to listen to debate without being able to speak about her own diagnosis. A new ballot for private members’ bills is expected, and supporters hope to revive the bill using the Parliament Act to bypass further blocks by the House of Lords. Opponents said the bill is fundamentally flawed and previously delayed by extensive amendments.

"A former public health minister facing terminal cancer has urged MPs not to bring back the assisted dying bill in England and Wales. The Labour MP Ashley Dalton revealed she would be on lifelong treatment for metastatic breast cancer, which has spread throughout her body but said her parliamentary colleagues should not revive the bill, which would legalise an assisted death to those with a terminal illness."

"Dalton, 53, had not previously made an intervention on the bill because she was serving as a government minister. She resigned from the role in March to focus on her cancer treatment, and so she could continue serving as a constituency MP for West Lancashire. I've got incurable but treatable breast cancer, she said. Two years ago, I had some symptoms and they found a large tumour on my ovaries. And when they took it out and tested it, it was breast cancer which had spread. I'll be on treatment for ever."

"My breast cancer is what they call triple negative, which means it doesn't respond to hormone treatment. I spent about 10 months on an oral chemotherapy and that recently stopped working. So I've just started on an intravenous chemotherapy, so I'll be on that for as long as that works. Dalton said she had found it hard to hear MPs speaking in the chamber about the bill and not be able to speak about her own feelings on having a terminal diagnosis."

"Supporters hope they can use the Parliament Act to bypass further blocks by the House of Lords, where the bill ran out of time for debate because opponents laid more than 1,000 amendments. Peers who opposed the bill said it was fundamentally flawed. Dalton, 53, had not previously made an intervention on the bill because she was serving as a government minister."

Read at www.theguardian.com