UK laws on euthanasia and assisted suicide explained amid calls for a vote on legalisation
Euthanasia, or medically assisted death, is currently illegal in both Britain and the wider British Isles.
Although that could change soon.
Currently, any doctor or person who performs euthanasia can be prosecuted for manslaughter or murder.
Even helping a terminally ill person to commit suicide, called assisted suicide, is a criminal offense in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Although there is no specific law on assisted suicide in Scotland, assisting someone to end their own life can lead to a prosecution for wrongful death in circumstances where a court determines that a person’s death was not entirely voluntary.
In theory, such laws also apply to Britons who specifically help their loved ones seek a medically assisted death abroad, in countries such as Switzerland.
Scottish courts have said that helping and guiding someone seeking a medically assisted death in a country like Switzerland would not normally lead to prosecution.
Those who only go, or plan to go, to clinics like Dignitas would not be breaking any law.
The Crown Prosecution Service investigated 182 cases of assisted suicide between April 2009 and March 2023, according to the most recent data available.
However, it is not known where these took place.
Four were successfully prosecuted. Another was charged but acquitted, and eight were escalated to murder or other serious crime.
Another four are in progress.
It should be noted that the crime of assisted suicide is not specific to medical cases.
Recorded offenses may also include attempts to bully or pressure healthy people to commit suicide.
Figures from Dignitas show that more than 400 Britons have died through the service since 2009.
Some form of assisted death or assisted suicide is legal in at least 27 jurisdictions around the world.
And Scotland could be the first British country to join them.
A bill on medically assisted dying is expected to be debated at Holyrood next year.
Possible bill should be examined by the Scottish Health Committee before it is first discussed and voted on. Even with majority support, the law would not change overnight.
Other places in the British Isles, although not part of Britain, are also seeking their own law change.
The Isle of Man is currently debating proposals for assisted dying.
Its legislature, the Tynwald, will soon produce a report. If it were legalized, only those with six months to live would be allowed to do so. They must also have lived there for at least a year.
Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands, made an ‘in principle’ decision to legalize assisted dying in 2021, after which consultations will take place.
During the trial, politicians will debate later this year how a law should be implemented. If the assembly approves the policy proposals, a law would have to be drafted – a process that would take 12 to 18 months.
Once a bill is passed, it takes another 18 months before it comes into force.
Proposals would allow people with terminal illness or ‘unbearable suffering’ to end their lives.
To qualify, people must ‘ordinarily reside in Jersey for at least 12 months’.