My Lords, it is always a great privilege to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Masham of Ilton. I too have added my name to Amendment 172 and commend the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, for the way in which she introduced it. This debate could risk sounding technical and legalistic, but it is really about redressing an imbalance of power between doctors and parents when their child is desperately sick and at risk of dying and decisions are being made about how best to care for them.
I will not repeat all that I said in Committee, but my attention was drawn to this issue just over a year ago by listening to Connie Yates describe the ordeal that she and her partner Chris endured through the courts when the Great Ormond Street Hospital doctors disagreed with their decision as parents to seek alternative treatment for their baby. Theirs may be an extreme example of what it means not to be listened to or taken seriously by highly qualified professionals who, because they
know more, believe they know best, but it is all the more profound because, as parents, what they experienced was not right, and it certainly was not what they deserved.
While this kind of ordeal might be rare, the wider principle—ensuring that we are all taken seriously when we deserve to be—needs promoting with vigour by those of us who enjoy great power and privilege. We need to go out of our way to redress imbalances where we see them, because the inequalities and unfairnesses that people feel, which have driven the political realignment we have seen in recent years, will not be fixed by infrastructure projects or economic decisions alone.
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This Government are clearly committed to levelling up, but one of the most important ways of us achieving that goal is cost-free because it is about mutual respect. People want and deserve mutual respect from the professionals and experts they rely on for all sorts of things, but especially in their hour of greatest need.
I am very grateful to my noble friend the Minister for the care and consideration he has given to this issue since Committee, and I will of course listen carefully to what he has to say when he responds to this debate. I should add that my noble friend Lord Howe is a great example of humility from anyone who enjoys status and privilege.
I also understand that the Government will be reluctant to legislate. I understand that principle—it is not normally the solution I would reach for—but the proposal in the amendment that the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, has brought forward is really modest. The doctors are not losing any power. We are just ensuring that parents of desperately sick children are shown respect and taken seriously when it comes to discussing with doctors how to do what is best for their child. All it does is make sure that, if relations break down, the doctors cannot go straight to court and rely on yet more highly qualified professionals, to the exclusion of the families in such a desperate situation.
As she said she would, the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, has listened to all those who raised legitimate questions in Committee and has changed the amendment to address their concerns. I sincerely hope that my noble friend the Minister feels able to accept it.