Assisted dy!ng set to be legalised in England and Wales after historic vote

British MPs have taken a historic step toward legalising assisted dy!ng in England and Wales after backing a bill that would give some terminally ill people the right to end their lives.

 

 

The Commons approved the second reading of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill by 330 votes to 275, a majority of 55, to continue its progress through Parliament.

 

If passed into law, the Bill will allow terminally ill, mentally competent adults – with less than six months to live to seek an assisted death in England and Wales with the approval of two doctors and a High Court judge.

 

 

According to Mail Online, today was the first time MPs had voted on the issue of assisted dying since 2015. MPs of all parties were given a ‘free vote’ and the Government took a neutral stance on the Bill.

 

 

The Bill is now expected to go into the committee stage where MPs can table amendments, before facing further scrutiny and votes in both the Commons and the House of Lords, meaning any change in the law would not be agreed until next year at the earliest.

 

 

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, who introduced the Bill to Parliament, has said it would likely be a further two years from then for an assisted dying service to be in place.

 

 

Campaigners both for and against the Bill gathered outside Parliament today as MPs voted on the Bill. 

 

 

During the debate before this afternoon’s vote, a senior Labour MP broke down in tears as she spoke about her daughter’s illness while voicing her opposition to the Bill.

 

 

Drawing on her own personal experiences, Dame Meg Hillier recounted her daughter’s admission to hospital with acute pancreatitis and how ‘good medicine’ can relieve the pain.

 

 

‘Those first five days she did not sleep and she was crying out in pain,’ she told the Commons as her voice broke with emotion.

 

 

‘I saw what good medicine can do that palliated that pain, that got her to a place where although for two-and-a-half months she was unable to eat, she was saved. 

 

 

‘And the key was she was not in pain – well, she was in pain but it was managed.’

 

 

Dame Meg told MPs they were being asked to ‘cross a Rubicon’ by backing the legalisation of assisted dying in England and Wales.

 

 

‘This is a fundamental change in the relationship between the state and the citizen, and the patient and their doctor,’ she added.

 

 

‘If we have a scintilla of doubt about allowing the state that power, we should vote against this today.’