Assisted dying: what is it and how could the law change?
29 November 2024, 09:01
MPs are hours away from voting on whether to legalise assisted dying, which would give people with less than six months to live the right to choose to end their life.
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The private member’s bill, brought by Labour backbencher Kim Leadbeater, will be debated from 9.30am on Friday in the House of Commons with a vote expected later this afternoon.
More than 160 MPs hope to share their thoughts on the contentious issue during the five-hour debate, with experts claiming the result is too close to call.
So, what is assisted dying?
This, and the language used, varies depending on who you ask.
James O'Brien lays out the 'two extremes' in the assisted dying debate
Pro-change campaigners Dignity in Dying argue that, along with good care, dying adults who are terminally ill and mentally competent deserve the choice to control how and when they die.
But the campaign group Care Not Killing uses the terms "assisted suicide" and "euthanasia", arguing that the focus should be on "promoting more and better palliative care" rather than any law change.
They say legalising assisted dying could "place pressure on vulnerable people to end their lives for fear of being a financial, emotional or care burden upon others" and argue the disabled, elderly, sick or depressed could be especially at risk.
What is the current law?
Assisted dying is banned in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.
In Scotland, it is not a specific criminal offence but assisting the death of someone can leave a person open to being charged with murder or other offences.
What does the new assisted dying bill propose?
Labour MP Kim Leadbeater formally introduced her Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill to Parliament in October.
If passed, the law would change to allow people with less than six months to live to decide whether to take their own life.
However, the bill includes a number of safeguards - patients must be:
- 18 or over and live in England and Wales, and be registered with a GP for at least 12 months
- have the mental capacity to make the decision voluntarily, and express “a clear, settled and informed wish to end their own life” free from coercion or pressure
- satisfy two independent doctors that they meet the criteria - with at least seven days between the assessments
If the doctors agree that the person is eligible for assisted dying, they must apply to the High Court to approve their request.
Once the High Court approves the application, and after a 14-day reflection period (48 hours in urgent cases), the person must make a second declaration that they wish to end their life, signed and witnessed by a doctor and one other person.
Labour MP explains why she supports the Assisted Dying Bill
What happens if someone is eligible for assisted dying?
Once a person has completed this process, they are prescribed with an “approved substance” that will end their life.
The self-administered medicine must be taken by the person themselves, without the help of a medical professional.
One other safeguard in the bill is that it would be illegal to pressure someone to make a declaration that they wish to die or to take the medicine, with a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.
What is happening at Westminster?
Labour MP Kim Leadbeater formally introduced her Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill to Parliament in October.
The first debate and vote on the bill are taking place today, with a vote expected around 2.30pm this afternoon.
If the Bill passes the first stage in the Commons, it will go to committee stage where MPs can table amendments, before facing further scrutiny and votes in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, meaning any change in the law would not be agreed until next year at the earliest.
Ms Leadbeater's Bill would apply only to England and Wales.
What is happening in Scotland?
Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur has introduced a Member's Bill - Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill- on the issue at Holyrood.
Under his proposals, eligibility requires having been resident in Scotland for at least a year, being registered with a GP in the country, and being mentally competent.
The person would also have to be capable of taking the medication to end their lives by themselves.
McArthur said he expects the first key vote to take place in the Scottish Parliament either in the late spring or early summer of 2025.
What about other parts of the UK, Ireland and the Crown Dependencies?
Any move to legalise assisted dying in Northern Ireland would have to be passed by politicians in the devolved Assembly at Stormont.
In May, Jersey's parliament voted in favour of drawing up laws to establish an assisted dying service on the island for terminally ill people.
Under the proposed law, adults resident in Jersey for at least a year, with a voluntary, settled and informed wish to end their own life are eligible if they are terminally ill with a life expectancy of six months, or 12 months if they have a neurodegenerative disease.
If the law is approved in Jersey, the earliest it could come into effect would be spring 2027.
An Assisted Dying Bill in the Isle of Man passed a third reading in July and is undergoing further scrutiny in the island's Parliament.
As it stands, the Isle of Man Bill is only for adults who have been resident on the island for five years, have a terminal illness with a life expectancy of no more than 12 months, and who have a settled wish to end their life.
Campaigners say if the Bill gains royal assent next year, assisted dying could be available to eligible Manx residents from as early as 2027.
In the Republic of Ireland, a committee recommended in March that legislation allowing for assisted dying in certain restricted circumstances should be introduced but it led to a split, with some committee members arguing the case for assisted dying "has not been established".
A Voluntary Assisted Dying private member's bill was introduced in the Irish parliament in June but lapsed earlier this month when an election was called.
What are the views of the public?
This varies. Research by the Policy Institute and the Complex Life and Death Decisions group at King's College London (KCL) in September suggested almost two-thirds of just over 2,000 adults surveyed in England and Wales want assisted dying to be legalised for terminally ill adults in the next five years.
But it showed the changeable nature of some people's views, with some of those voicing support saying they could change their minds if they felt someone had been pressured into choosing an assisted death or had made the choice due to lack of access to care.
Overall, the polling found a fifth (20%) of people said they do not want assisted dying to be legalised in the next five years, while 63% said they do.
Campaigners from Care Not Killing said this polling showed public support for what they term "assisted suicide" had lessened in the past decade and highlighted the statistics around those who are concerned about people feeling pressure to end their lives.
More recent polling from More in Common found 65% support the principle of assisted dying while 13% oppose it and the rest are unsure.
Its polling of around 2,000 people across Great Britain this month also found that almost a third (30%) were unaware a debate on the issue was happening in Parliament.
Around a quarter of those polled said eligibility for assisted dying should be on the basis of life expectancy, which is the case with the current Bill, but 51% said people with terminal degenerative paralysing conditions should be eligible, something the current Bill does not propose.
