What is the Assisted Dying Act? Details of the divisive new law revealed

New legislation has been proposed to legalize assisted dying in England and Wales.

The bill calls for terminally ill patients in England and Wales who are expected to die within six months to be given the right to end their lives.

This is a Private Member’s Bill, meaning it has been proposed by reserve MPs rather than the government. While a Private Member’s Bill rarely becomes law, the idea of allowing terminally ill people to end their own lives has gained momentum in the UK in recent years.

If the bill is passed, the UK would join countries such as Switzerland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the US state of Oregon in allowing people with terminal illnesses to take their own lives if they wish.

What is the difference between euthanasia and assisted suicide and what are the current laws?

Under the Suicide Act 1961, it is an offense in England and Wales to commit acts that encourage or assist the suicide or attempted suicide of another person. Those convicted of aiding suicide could face up to 14 years in prison.

Euthanasia is also illegal (considered manslaughter) and has a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

according to NHSEuthanasia refers to the act of deliberately ending a person’s life to relieve suffering (for example, when a doctor gives a terminally ill patient a medication he or she does not need for the purpose of ending life).

Assisted suicide refers to the act of deliberately helping another person end their own life.

What might change if the Assisted Dying Bill is passed?

There are several requirements for a person to be eligible under the proposed law.

The person must be an adult aged 18 or over, resident in England and Wales and registered with a GP for at least 12 months.

They must have the mental capacity to make a choice about the end of their life and must be deemed to have expressed a clear, established and informed wish (without coercion or coercion) to end their life.

They must be terminally ill and expected to die within six months.

They must make two separate, witnessed and signed statements stating that they want to die.

The process should involve two independent doctors ensuring that the person is suitable, and health officials may consult a specialist about the person’s condition and, if deemed necessary, obtain an assessment from a specialist about mental capacity.

The High Court judge is required to obtain information from at least one doctor regarding the application and may question anyone he deems appropriate, as well as the dying person.

At least seven days must elapse between two doctors making an evaluation and another 14 days after the judge makes a decision before the person can have time to reflect on their decision.

For someone whose death is expected to be imminent, the 14-day period may be reduced to 48 hours.

Who is running the campaign for the law change?

Dame Esther Rantzen has been a strong voice in the debate on the terminally ill and assisted dying

(Kirsty O’Connor/PA Archive

Labor MP Kim Leadbeater has been a long-standing supporter of changes to assisted dying.

He told Times Radio last month: “A lot of people have contacted me about this issue; if you are terminally ill at the moment, you don’t have the option of ending your life in the way you want.

“We currently have a system that is not fit for purpose. “We have people who end their own lives in despair because they are in so much pain.”

Ms Leadbeater also told LBC “we have a duty and a moral obligation to change the law for these people”.

Dame Esther, 84, who has stage four lung cancer, has said in the past that she planned to go to Switzerland to end her life. He described Ms Leadbeater as an “extraordinary person” for introducing the bill to Parliament.

Who opposed this?

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, former Paralympic athlete and vocal disability rights campaigner Tanni Gray-Thompson believes there is “a lot of concern out there about how this law will expand if it comes into force” and expresses concerns about how this law will be implemented. Particularly if the terminally ill person is vulnerable or a victim of coercive control, the decision to end lives will be made.

The Archbishop of Canterbury expressed his disapproval of the bill in an interview with BBC Newsnight, calling it “dangerous” and a “slippery slope”. “I worry that even the best intentions can lead to unintended consequences, and that the desire to help our neighbor may inadvertently open the door to more pain and suffering for those we are trying to help,” he wrote. MailOnline.

What do the public think?

One questionnaire According to last year, 65 per cent of British adults aged 16-75 said it should be legal for a doctor to help a terminally ill patient end their life. A similar study Kings College London This year it emerged that 63 per cent of people in England and Wales said they wanted the current Parliament to make assisted dying legal for terminally ill adults within the next five years.

But the research found that 20 per cent of people said they did not want that to happen and 61 per cent said they would be concerned about some terminally ill patients being pressured to have assisted dying if the law changed.

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