The time is coming for new laws on assisted dying

Before the next General Election, Parliament is likely to debate new legislation on choice at the end of life.

MPs will have the opportunity to show the public that they are listening to their constituents, voting for compassion and joining the growing wave of countries that have passed this next, great social reform.

This is a historic opportunity for Parliament to operate at its best, take account of emerging evidence, and reform the law.

NEW ZEALAND: legalised assisted dying in November 2020 after an historic and binding referendum vote in October. The decisive vote saw New Zealanders overwhelming back change – 65% voted yes to the End of Life Choice Act.

The Bill’s lead sponsor, Gino Kenny TD, said: “It applies only to those suffering from a terminal illness and only to adults in their full mental capacity and able to make a rational and conversant decision about their lives.” The Bill is now undergoing pre-legislative scrutiny.

Following Victoria’s lead, assisted dying is now legal in Western Australia. The Parliament of Tasmania has approved legislation, subject to a final expert review panel, and will likely pass it into law in March. New legislation on assisted dying was introduced in New South Wales at the end of 2020 and legislation is also likely to be debated in Queensland next year.

This year the largest ever survey of doctors, conducted by the British Medical Association (BMA), showed a clear majority of respondents want the BMA to drop their opposition to assisted dying and half of doctors reported they personally support a change in the law, compared to just 39% who opposed assisted dying.

Cross-party MPs are uniting on assisted dying, responding to evidence and listening to dying people’s needs. A powerful Westminster Hall debate in January brought many new MPs into the debate with a consensus calling for the Government to collect more evidence to better inform the discussion.

NEW ZEALAND: legalised assisted dying in November 2020 after an historic and binding referendum vote in October. The decisive vote saw New Zealanders overwhelming back change – 65% voted yes to the End of Life Choice Act.

The Bill’s lead sponsor, Gino Kenny TD, said: “It applies only to those suffering from a terminal illness and only to adults in their full mental capacity and able to make a rational and conversant decision about their lives.” The Bill is now undergoing pre-legislative scrutiny.

Following Victoria’s lead, assisted dying is now legal in Western Australia. The Parliament of Tasmania has approved legislation, subject to a final expert review panel, and will likely pass it into law in March. New legislation on assisted dying was introduced in New South Wales at the end of 2020 and legislation is also likely to be debated in Queensland next year.

This year the largest ever survey of doctors, conducted by the British Medical Association (BMA), showed a clear majority of respondents want the BMA to drop their opposition to assisted dying and half of doctors reported they personally support a change in the law, compared to just 39% who opposed assisted dying.

Cross-party MPs are uniting on assisted dying, responding to evidence and listening to dying people’s needs. A powerful Westminster Hall debate in January brought many new MPs into the debate with a consensus calling for the Government to collect more evidence to better inform the discussion.

In 2020, New Zealand legalised assisted dying. Now the UK must follow in its footsteps.

In October the Irish Dáil voted 81-71 to progress the Dying with Dignity Bill to its committee stage.

In June 2020 the state of Victoria marked one year of their assisted dying law being implemented.

This year we've seen a huge shift in doctors' views on assisted dying. Half of UK doctors now support a change in the law.

In 2020 more MPs are backing change than ever before. Members across the house are working together on assisted dying.

“We should make sure that as this conversation happens... that this [debate] is conducted in an evidence-based, sensible and compassionate way.”

Matt Hancock MP

“The present guidelines have in-built limitations, which mean that there can be injustice in a number of cases. The law needs to be changed. The important thing is to have safeguards.”

Sir Keir Starmer MP

“Our laws are failing dying people, their families and those who must enforce it, we must do better. It is time to look at the undue suffering the blanket ban on assisted dying is causing to people at the end of life.”

Karin Smyth MP

“I think it's very difficult to tell someone who's in pain and suffering and who wants to die that the state is going to stop them from doing that...I think it's extremely important our citizens have this right.”

Daniel Kawczynski MP

“Those suffering debilitating terminal diseases are being robbed not just of life but of death. To come to terms with one’s own death and to depart this life in peace and dignity is a privilege that we as a society should endeavour to extend, not to limit.”

Alicia Kearns MP

“I have changed my mind on this issue after seeing the misery endured at the end of their lives by terminally ill constituents. The Commons is moving towards a tightly drawn change in the law with strong safeguards built in.”

Andrew Mitchell MP

Last Rights

The Case for Assisted Dying

Coronavirus has woken society up to what terminally ill people face on a daily basis: a sense of powerlessness, a lack of control, fear and anxiety over an uncertain future.

In our book Last Rights: The Case for Assisted Dying, published in June, we amplified the voices of dying people and their families so that they could make public the reality of a bad death in Britain today.

The book sparked a national conversation on death and dying that quickly cut to the heart of the matter.

“A change in the law, one that includes proper protections against abuse, is supported by a full 84 per cent [of the general public]. It is the settled will of the country and of its prime minister. It’s an idea whose time has come.”

Lord Finkelstein

Assisted dying is the next progressive reform for the UK. It is history-making.

Once passed, like universal suffrage and equal marriage it will be considered astonishing to future generations that our nation could ever have been so cruel as to deny this choice to dying people.

Dignity in Dying campaigns for greater choice, control and access to services at the end of life. It advocates providing terminally ill adults with the option of an assisted death, within strict legal safeguards, and for universal access to high quality end-of-life care.

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