Bill on Assisted Dying: Opening up important conversations

November 2024

WAY Widowed and Young’s Chief Executive Stephanie Patrick travelled to Westminster last week to present WAY members’ thoughts and experiences around the Bill on Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults to MPs and bereavement charity leaders at an event convened by the bereavement signposting organisation At a Loss. 

Although WAY remains neutral on the Bill, we wanted to make sure that the thoughts and experiences of bereaved people were heard in the run up to the Bill’s second reading on Friday, 29 November 2024. We were pleased to join with other bereavement organisations, including Cruse and Winston’s Wish at a discussion in Portcullis House on 19 November.

WAY recently carried out a survey of our young widowed members to find out more about the potential impact the Assisted Dying Bill for Terminally Ill Adults might have on bereaved partners and their families. 

The responses were heartbreaking and powerful, depicting the range of experiences WAY members have faced when caring for their terminally ill partner (70% of survey respondents had lost their loved one to a terminal illness). 

More than half of the respondents thought that end-of-life care options for their loved one were not adequate; 62% of respondents felt that the way their loved one’s end-of-life care was managed had impacted their bereavement. 

This quote from one respondent encapsulates the sentiments of many WAY members who took part in the survey: 

“There is trauma in witnessing a loved one’s unmanageable pain that adds to the trauma of loss itself.”

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While 37% of respondents felt the Assisted Dying Bill might have made their bereavement easier citing reasons such as choice and control, 27% weren’t sure and 30% said it would have made no difference to their bereavement. 

For a variety of reasons, including guilt and the countdown to goodbye, 6% of respondents felt that the Bill would have made their bereavement more difficult.

“While the charity WAY Widowed and Young has taken a neutral stance towards the Assisted Dying Bill,” Stephanie said. “We very much welcome the conversations that have been opened up around grief and bereavement. A recent survey of WAY’s members on the potential impact of the Bill on bereaved families can be summarised in these powerful words from one of the respondents: ‘We cannot save the life of a terminally ill person, but we can reduce the impact of the circumstances surrounding the death’.”

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, who put forward the Bill, joined the event on 19 November to hear the summing up remarks and pledged her support to continue dialogue with the bereavement sector, whatever the outcome of the Bill’s second reading.