New assisted suicide bill introduced into UK Parliament

A new bid to legalize assisted suicide has begun in the U.K., when the Assisted Dying Bill was introduced into the House of Lords on May 26, with the purported aim of alleviating “intolerable suffering.”

Meanwhile, Members of Parliament (MPs) opposed to the bill have warned that any move to legalize assisted suicide is a “slippery slope” that leads inevitably to euthanasia.

Baroness Meacher, chair of the assisted-suicide lobby group Dignity in Dying, made the first steps in the process to bring in assisted suicide into the U.K., with the House of Lords giving her Assisted Dying Bill its first reading on May 26.

In its first reading, the bill was formally introduced. It will be debated in its second reading, which will most likely take place later this year.

Modeled on legislation from Oregon, under the terms of the bill, assisted suicide would be legalized for “terminally ill, mentally competent adults” who are judged to be in the final six months of their life.

When assisted suicide is requested, two doctors and a High Court judge would be required to assess the case in order to grant approval for a person to end his or her life.

Should the judges approve the death, then a patient would be able to choose the place, time and manner. Meacher’s bill declares that it has the aim of alleviating “intolerable suffering.”

Read here

See also: Netherlands euthanasia procedures reached record levels in 2020, from Right to Life UK

Please right-click links to open in a new window.