At present, laws throughout the UK prevent people from asking for medical help to die.
A majority of voters support a change in the law to make assisted dying legal, a poll for LFF has found.
The poll, carried out by Savanta for LFF, found that 60% of voters support legalisation of assisted dying in the UK, while just 14% oppose.
The poll findings come ahead of a vote due to take place later today, where MPs will decide whether or not to legalize assisted dying, a contentious proposal that would make the UK one of a small handful of nations to allow terminally ill people to end their lives.
At present, laws throughout the UK prevent people from asking for medical help to die.
However, backbench Labour MP Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, could change the legal position in England and Wales.
The government is impartial on the issue and has allowed a free vote.
The purpose of the bill is to allow adults aged 18 and over, who have mental capacity, are terminally ill and are in the final six months of their life, to request assistance from a doctor to die.
There are proposed safeguards in the bill, which include:
- They must be over 18 and live in England and Wales, and have been registered with a GP for at least 12 months
- They must have the mental capacity to make the choice and be deemed to have expressed a clear, settled and informed wish, free from coercion or pressure
- Be expected to die within six months
- Make two separate declarations, witnessed and signed, about their wish to die
- Satisfy two independent doctors that they are eligible – with at least seven days between each assessment
- If both doctors state the person is eligible, then they must apply to the High Court for approval of their request
Campaigners who support a change in the law say that it will give people who are facing unbearable suffering control, so they can have a peaceful death, while those opposed warn that there is a risk of a “slippery slope” – that the eligibility criteria would widen over time and have also raised fears that some people will feel pressured to opt for assisted dying if they feel like a burden to society.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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