We all have the right to live, does this also mean we should have the right to die?
Currently, it is illegal in the UK for anyone to assist in another person’s death. Under the Suicide Act 1961 it is considered a serious criminal offence to help people kill themselves. However the new Assisted Dying Bill is being widely campaigned as a way for people to take back their autonomy and dignity after facing a terminal diagnosis.
Assisted dying laws are progressing in Scotland, the Isle of Man and Jersey. If enacted the bill would give new rights to adults ,resident in England and Wales, who are terminally ill to be able to make a formal declaration enabling a doctor to ‘prescribe medicines for that person to end their own life.’
If this Bill was passed, then there would need to be an amendment to the Suicide Act 1961.
Sarah Wootton, the chief executive of Dignity in Dying, a charity that supports a change in the law said “We need to make end-of-life care fit for the 21st Century and that must include having the choice of accelerating what is to somebody an unbearable dying process. It’s a patient-powered movement that will force that change ultimately.”
However Alistair Thompson, spokesperson for the ”Care Not Killing” campaign group commented ‘It’s the least well-off in society, the poorest, those who have no voice, who are much more likely to be pressured into ending their lives.”
This highly debated subject has strong arguments on both sides however for a Private Members bill to get through the House of Commons it needs government support ,despite the weight of public opinion and support from people like Dame Esther Rantzen , presently the government headed by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has not taken a clear position in the matter.
The Health and Social Care Committee is holding an enquiry into assisted dying/ assisted suicide
If nothing else it warrants debate and serious consideration….
