The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill has been published. Introduced by Kim Leadbeater MBE, the Labour MP for Spen Valley, the Bill will allow adults who are terminally ill with six months left to live or fewer the ability to end their own life, subject to safeguards and protections. The Second Reading will be on Friday 29 November. Humanists UK has welcomed the introduction of the Bill.
The individual must make a voluntary, informed, and settled wish, confirmed by two independent doctors and approved by the High Court. The doctors must verify the patient’s terminal diagnosis and mental capacity. The declaration can be revoked at any time. The medicine can only be self-administered.
No doctor will be under any obligation to participate in any part of the process. The Chief Medical Officers in England and Wales and the Secretary of State will be required to monitor and report on the operation of the law.
The Assisted Dying Bill will apply to England and Wales only. A private member’s bill in Scotland by Liam McArthur MSP has been introduced in the Scottish Parliament. It differs in that terminally ill people are eligible regardless of how long they have left to live.
Andrew Copson, Chief Executive of Humanists UK, said:
‘This is a historic Bill which would give many suffering people the choice and dignity they desire and deserve. As they debate its provisions, parliamentarians will have in front of them vital questions about eligibility, process, and safeguards, that it will be the duty of all of society to help them address.
‘Drawing on our own decades of policy and research in this field, and on the best of the international experience of the 31 legal jurisdictions in the world that are ahead of us, we at Humanists UK look forward to supporting all legislators with this once-in-a-generation legislation.
‘The fact of the matter is that assisted dying is already happening in this country. People are travelling to Switzerland, engaging in suicides and mercy killings, and doctors are providing too much morphine. Others are dying through suicide. MPs’ jobs are properly understood not as introducing a practice where there is none but to introduce safeguards where there are none.
‘We recognise that some MPs may be nervous about such a significant piece of legislation coming before them so early in their terms. But we hope that they will realise that, if they support assisted dying in principle but are concerned about the practicalities, they should vote in favour of it at second reading. The subsequent committee and report stages offer ample opportunities to provide detailed scrutiny of the measure, before future votes as the proposals proceed through their parliamentary stages.’
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For further comment or information, media should contact Nathan Stilwell at nathan@humanists.uk or phone 07456200033.
If you have been affected by the current assisted dying legislation, and want to use your story to support a change in the law, please email campaigns@humanists.uk.
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Humanists defend the right of each individual to live by their own personal values, and the freedom to make decisions about their own life so long as this does not result in harm to others. Humanists do not share the attitudes to death and dying held by some religious believers, in particular that the manner and time of death are for a deity to decide, and that interference in the course of nature is unacceptable. We firmly uphold the right to life but we recognise that this right carries with it the right of each individual to make their own judgement about whether their life should be prolonged in the face of pointless suffering.
We recognise that any assisted dying law must contain strong safeguards, but the international evidence from countries where assisted dying is legal shows that safeguards can be effective. We also believe that the choice of assisted dying should not be considered an alternative to palliative care, but should be offered together as in many other countries.
Read six reasons we need an assisted dying law.
Read more about our analysis of the assisted dying inquiry.
Read more about our campaign to legalise assisted dying in the UK.
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