Just two days before today's parliamentary vote backing assisted suicide, Philip Bateman, a campaigner against the proposal, died peacefully at his home and surrounded by his family.
Bateman was diagnosed in spring 2024 with pancreatic cancer and told he had less than six months left to live. Under the proposals voted on today, Bateman would have been eligible to seek to end his own life.
However, such a move was anathema to Bateman, a former pastor.
In May Bateman appeared on BBC Breakfast and outlined his objections to the bill, “It’s not assisted dying, it’s assisted suicide! It means a deliberate wilful act by a person to kill themselves, and so you are assisting someone to kill themselves. Call it by that and see how many MPs vote for it.”
Bateman said he believed issues of life and death were best left to God, telling Sky News in November, “I want to live until God wants me to die. He will sort that out, not me. I have no idea how it's going to happen, and I don't want to know.
“This world is temporary, and I have a better one coming. I have pancreatic cancer which not only affects my pancreas, but also my lungs. When we were told I had less than six months to live, my wife Pauline couldn't stop crying. Sitting in the hospital we sung praises to God. It's now five months, and I'm grateful for this time."
Bateman managed to survive more than double the six months the doctors gave him, and pointed out to fellow campaigners that doctors can sometimes get such predictions staggeringly wrong.
“Thirty-five years ago, one of my neighbours had lymphoma cancer and was given six months to live. He's now 67 - imagine if he had taken his own life back then," he said.
Beyond these practical concerns however, Bateman was unapologetic in stating his opposition to assisted suicide on faith grounds, believing it to be against “God’s plan and purpose”, regardless of whatever safeguards are implemented.
This morning MPs voted on a number of proposed changes to the bill. Among the changes agreed upon is that that the government should commit to a review of palliative care services. However, an attempt to prohibit assisted suicide for the mentally ill was blocked by MPs.
