UK assisted dying bill offers ‘strictest safeguards’ say supporters

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MPs will have their first opportunity to scrutinise a landmark bill on assisted dying that its proponents say offers greater legal protections than any other legislation of its kind in the world.

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater will on Tuesday publish her Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Members’ Bill, which would give people the opportunity to end their own life — but only those who are terminally ill with six months or less to live.

It would exclude those with disabilities and mental illness.

The most legally stringent provision of the bill sets out that an application to end one’s life would have to go before a High Court judge who would be required to hear from at least one doctor, and would be granted powers to request information from the person making the application.

Leadbeater said she had gone through a “thorough and robust process” to determine the shape of the legislation, including consulting widely with medical and legal experts. 

“I don’t underestimate the seriousness of the issue. For my part, I have looked closely at the evidence from other jurisdictions and I believe this bill not only offers protections to people nearing the end of their lives that they don’t have at present, but also provides for the strictest safeguards anywhere in the world,” she said.

But opponents of changing the law have raised questions over the capacity of the courts to handle assisted dying cases. The courts system is already struggling under the pressure of huge backlogs, which can lead to hearings being delayed for months, or even years. 

The legislation — which will offer MPs the first time to debate the issue of assisted dying in almost a decade — will be voted on after a second reading in the House of Commons on November 29.

Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, who has said he is “personally in favour of changing the law” on assisted dying, has committed to giving MPs a free vote on the issue, meaning they are not whipped by their party to vote a particular way.

Assisted dying is currently illegal in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years for anyone helping someone to die.

If voted through parliament, the bill would allow adults to shorten their own life if they have the mental capacity to make that decision.

Applicants would have to make two separate declarations of their wishes that would be witnessed and signed, and two independent doctors would have to agree that the person meets all of the necessary criteria, with seven days between each ruling.

The legislation also stipulates that no doctor would be under any obligation to participate in the process, and that any lethal medication offered would be self-administered.

It suggests that coercing someone to end their life — or make a false declaration as part of the process — should be a crime carrying a sentence of up to 14 years in jail.

The British Medical Association, representing British doctors, has called for assisted dying services to be organised separately from normal NHS care. They have also called for an opt-in service in the legislation for NHS staff, as opposed to opt-out.