Should assisted dying be legal?
More than two dozen jurisdictions around the world – including New Zealand, Canada, Switzerland, Belgium, 10 states in the US and all six states in Australia – allow some form of assisted dying.
Bills to legalise assisted dying are now going through parliaments in the Isle of Man, Jersey and Scotland. What about the rest of the UK?
The Westminster parliament is expected to debate the issue in the coming months. The Labour peer Charlie Falconer, a former Lord Chancellor, has published a Lords’ Private Member’s Bill to legalise assisted dying, and the Labour MP Jake Richards is considering bringing forward a Commons’ Private Member’s Bill after coming 11th in a ballot last week. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has backed a free vote on the issue.
This week, we learned that a citizens’ jury has overwhelmingly backed the legalisation of assisted dying for terminally ill people after hearing from experts over a period of eight weeks. Twenty out of 28 jurors based in England agreed the law should be changed, with seven disagreeing and one person saying they were undecided. More information on that citizens’ jury here.
I would support the legalisation of assisted dying in particular circumstances with appropriate safeguards. Now aged 76, one day I might want it.
September 15th, 2024 at 6:19 pm
The safeguards should include:
– medical professionals, lawyers and carers and their associates or families of the above list should be excluded from any inheritance, without extremely good cause.
– The same group should have no connection whatever to any entity participating in the assistance.
– The patient should have a right of appeal if their exit is denied.
I am 75 and will make this choice, if my eife predeceases me or if I am likely to suffer extreme pain of dementia.
September 15th, 2024 at 9:37 pm
I agree that safeguards – and Chris’s are sensible – are necessary, but my experience of Lasting Powers of Attorney with different generations of my family and therefore different legislative provisions is that the tragic cases of abuse reported in the media have excessive impact on legislation resulting in enormous work and difficulty for the vast majority (>90%?) of attorneys in an already very stressful situation. R
September 16th, 2024 at 7:32 pm
As an ex-nurse who worked for over 40yrs in the NHS I have seen many people in the last stages of life, some of whom are quite likely to have been in the category of wanting to euthanase themselves as their prognosis was hopeless and their situation very debilitating and/or painful. As I once said to my son, there are far worse things in life than death.
If we had a scheme that guaranteed their right to choose to end their life, without interference from others, and to be helped to undertake it in a dignified and appropriate way, I would support that wholeheartedly. Living wills stating this intent would need to have been registered beforehand.
There must be ironclad safeguards in place that ensured nobody else could make that decision for them and that unrelated people would in no way benefit.