UK Parliament Approves Assisted Dying Bill; Sent to House of Lords
UK Parliament Approves Assisted Dying Bill; Sent to House of Lords
The UK Parliament’s House of Commons voted 314 to 291 to approve a bill legalizing assisted dying for terminally ill individuals. The bill now proceeds to the House of Lords for further review.
The legislation permits assisted dying for individuals with a terminal illness and a life expectancy of less than six months. Eligibility requires the individual to be capable of making the decision themselves, with the choice requiring the approval of two doctors and a panel.
The bill’s passage follows a national debate encompassing political, religious, and legal perspectives. Supporters argued the bill would alleviate suffering for terminally ill individuals. MP Kim Leadbeater, who introduced the bill, stated that rejecting the bill would mean “many more years of heartbreaking stories from terminally ill people and their families, of pain and trauma, suicide attempts, PTSD, lonely trips to (clinics in) Switzerland, police investigations.” She characterized the choice as “not a choice between living and dying: it is a choice for terminally ill people about how they die.”
Opponents raised concerns about ethical and religious implications, as well as the potential for coercion of vulnerable individuals, including those with disabilities. Concerns were also raised regarding the accuracy of six-month life expectancy diagnoses. Baroness Grey-Thompson, a Paralympian and House of Lords crossbencher, expressed worries about potential pressure on disabled and vulnerable people to end their lives. Actor and disability-rights activist Liz Carr echoed these concerns, citing experiences in other countries where assisted dying is legal. Dr Gordon Macdonald of the campaign group Care Not Killing highlighted the need to address shortcomings in the UK’s palliative care system.
Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown advocated for prioritizing improvements to the UK’s end-of-life care system, arguing that the bill “would privilege the legal right to assisted dying without guaranteeing anything approaching an equivalent right to high-quality palliative care for those close to death.” Labour MP Vicky Foxcroft similarly emphasized the need to improve healthcare, stating that seriously ill people “want us as parliamentarians to assist them to live, not to die.”
The House of Commons vote was a free vote, meaning MPs were not bound by party lines. The proposed bill is modeled on the Oregon assisted dying model and is less expansive than those in Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Canada, which allow assisted death in cases of suffering beyond terminal illness. The bill distinguishes itself from euthanasia, which involves another person actively ending a life to relieve suffering. Currently, assisting someone to die in England and Wales is a crime punishable by up to 14 years imprisonment; performing euthanasia is considered murder or manslaughter.
Countries that currently allow assisted dying in some form include Canada, New Zealand, Spain, most of Australia, and several US states such as Oregon, Washington, and California.
The bill’s next stage is its consideration by the House of Lords.
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