Assisted Dying Bill passed by slim majority

[smallglassbottle]

https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-starmer-assisted-dying-trump-israel-iran-labour-12593360

No, suicide isn’t ’always an option’. The woman I know who would have chosen assisted dying if it was legal could not eat, drink, walk - or do anything else - independently by the time she died.

Any suicide would need to have been assisted, by her husband or sons, who would then face charges of murder.

I don’t get that argument.

Death is a part of life. everyone is going to die. Saying that it’s a disgrace just makes it sound as if people are in control of that process which they’re not.

In Belgium people with dementia can agree to assisted dying at a later stage. They are then held down against their will at a time when they are no longer in control and murdered. Because that is IMO murder.

It’s like a woman agreeing to sex when she’s sober and then saying no when she’s drunk. Should the argument be that she agreed while she was able to so should be forced to go through with it when she’s not able to consent? It’s the same thing.

Now that is a disgrace.

Suggesting the disabled and mentally ill end their lives as they do in Canada is not a positive step.

The government are already looking to reduce benefits for the disabled to save them money. Suggesting they opt for assisted dying is just what they need to sort out the benefits crisis.

Yes I was in favour but in discussion with friends I could not work out how to avoid coercion. Trying to apply this to more than a few straightforward cases will be difficult and there will be many refusals and therefore many disappointments.
I hope it is halted by the HoL.

That’s as ridiculous as being against abortion because you think it will lead to the condoning of murdering 5-year-olds. All this ‘whataboutery’ is nonsense.

I completely agree.

I just feel massive relief that it's passed. After watching my husband die in agony and distress begging for help to die, I hope it gives other people the choice of an assisted death . The manner of his death will haunt me and my kids forever

I’m for assisted dying in principle, however, Leadbeaters bill is bad law. It is poorly written, and without adequate safeguards. The fact that lots of MPs who are not against assisted dying voted against this bill shows us that.

And many organisations, such as the royal college of psychiatrists, have said they cannot support the bill, not because they are necessarily against assisted dying voted, but because it is a poorly written bill.

There are quite a lot of safeguards!

Such as ?

I would like both. I have a chronic degenerative illness and know how shit it can be at the end. It scares me

Having watched my sister die in the same way, I’m 100% with you. I suspect the vast majority of people who are against this have not had to watch a loved one suffer and die, slowly, in great pain.

A lot of the people who are against the bill are not against assisted dying. They just have a problem with the way in which this bill has been put together

• 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

How so?

France voted in favour too recently. I'm in favour
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/27/french-parliament-prepares-to-vote-on-legalising-assisted-dying

Such good news this afternoon. At last a positive output from Westminster. People like Tony Nicholson won’t have to starve themselves to death.

Surely all this bill doing is providing the safe and controlled means for someone to end their life. Anyone can do this now, you don’t need permission and suicide is no longer a criminal offence, but it can be extremely traumatic for the individual concerned and for their loved ones, and also for anyone else involved who witnesses it, such as paramedics, train drivers etc. Yes, we all will die at some point, and most deaths are controlled and often peaceful, I’m sure we’d all accept that sort of death, but to insist that someone who has a terminal diagnosis, with an illness such as MND, or certain types of cancer, where it can be difficult to control the pain, have to suffer in pain and distress, often for weeks on end, is cruel. Give people the choice. I hope it gets through the HOL and religion isn’t brought up as a reason to block it. My life, my death, my choice.

The original bill insisted that the patient be able to take the medication independently so there goes that argument.

It was never going to be the case that people would be assisted to die.

Quite. 😔

I'm pleased it went through. I think it's disgraceful to force people to die slowly suffering without the option to have a humane ending.

Assisted dying and good palliative care are not mutually exclusive. As a country we could have both.

I’m also glad the bill passed and welcome having the choice if, at the time, I think I need it.

No, I have experienced that, twice.
I am still against this bill and I hope it is scuppered in the Lords.

Exactly.

I’m very relieved. From my libertarian atheist perspective, this change in the law is decades overdue. The principle has now been decided and we can sort out the details pragmatically to create a workable process by which terminally ill people can enact their own wishes about ending their own lives.

The time when religious people got to impose their beliefs on the rest of society should have been consigned to the past a long time ago, but the fact that the vote was so close indicates that religion remains far too much power in our country and our legislature.

2 weeks ago I watched my beautiful, elegant and dignified mum die in pain, wearing a nappy and have absolutely zero autonomy. Everything she didn’t want when she was told her cancer was terminal. I couldn’t do anything to allow her dignity in death and I will never ever forget how horrendous it was.

The care she received was brilliant but she wanted to die at a time of her choosing, before it got so bad she couldn’t even speak.

I am so relieved this bill has been passed, I wish it had been sooner.