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Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill [HL]

My Lords, I agree profoundly with the noble and learned Lord. I was graciously accommodated at Stoke Mandeville, a spinal injuries hospital, in order to be near to my wife—although I had only one fractured vertebrae which nobody noticed until later. I saw a number of cases there where people with severe spinal injuries—such as tetraplegics—would simply turn their face to the wall and die. The injuries that they had received were not, in themselves, life threatening, but the psychological effect upon the patient made them feel life threatening—they simply pulled up their roots and died. Others got on with life. Who is to say who was right in all those circumstances? The only conclusion I would draw from that is that it is extremely difficult for us to arrive at a perfect form of words which will make it utterly clear to those who are dealing with it in future—perhaps in circumstances which we have not envisaged—what they should do. In the words dreamt up by my noble friend Lord Howe, we have a workable piece of legislation. I hope that we will accept it in that light. If anybody finds something better, perhaps it could be added—either here at Third Reading, if procedure allows, or in the other place.