UK Parliament Proposes Bill To Allow Citizens Die On Their Terms
The United Kingdom parliament, on Wednesday, introduced a new bill to allow citizens with terminal diseases to die on their terms.
The proposed bill will legalise assisted death in England and Wales, nine years after rejecting a similar proposal.
Kim Leadbeater, a member of parliament with the ruling Labour party, introduced the bill, which according to her, will give terminally ill people a “choice” over end-of-life care and provide more protections for them and their loved ones.
Leadbeater said British law on the issue had not been updated in 60 years.
“Somebody with a terminal condition and very little time left has only limited options,” she wrote in The Guardian newspaper, earlier this month.
“Parliament should now be able to consider a change in the law that would offer reassurance and relief – and most importantly, dignity and choice – to people in the last months of their lives,” she added
The bill will be subject to a free vote by members of the House of Commons as they are to vote with their conscience rather than along party political lines.
The bill, if passed will allow terminally ill adults with six months or less to live to get medical assistance to end their own lives, with a likely sign-off from a judge and two doctors.
A bill on the issue was introduced in Scotland, which has a separate legal system, earlier this year. Also, 31 countries and territories allow some form of assisted dying, according to Humanists UK, a group that represents the non-religious.
However, the bill has faced criticisms from concerned groups especially religious organisations, who see it as another form of suicide.
UK Parliament Proposes Bill To Allow Citizens Die On Their Terms is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
