Should terminally ill patients have the right to die?
MPs are due to debate the ethically fraught issue in the House of Commons for the first time in 20 years tomorrow, after Labour’s Rob Marris laid a private members bill that would give terminally ill patients the right to die.
The Assisted Dying Bill offers an opportunity to re-shape the law governing terminally ill people who want to voluntarily end their own life. It gives Parliament the chance to offer choice and dignity to a small group of people at a time in their lives they most need it.
There are a wide range of arguments, both for and against the bill, and the Prime Minister has previously said he remained unconvinced about the arguments, although he was happy for MPs to debate the subject.
The Assisted Dying (No 2) Bill, if passed, would allow doctors to prescribe a lethal drug dose to terminally ill patients in England and Wales who are deemed to have less than six months to live. A High Court judge and two independent doctors would all be required to agree that the patient had made an informed decision to die.
The bill does not allow for assisted suicide when the patient is not terminally ill, nor for voluntary euthanasia, where a doctor administers the lethal medication.
What are you views on this sensitive matter? Do you think terminally ill individuals should be granted the right to end their own lives? Or do you think the law should remain unchanged?
