On Friday, MPs will vote on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill – a once-in-a-generation vote on whether people with terminal illnesses should have the right to an assisted death. In other words: the right to end one’s own life with the help of medical professionals.
As deputy political editor of the Guardian Jessica Elgot explains that it would be a monumental social change, and compares it to previous reforms on abortion, the death penalty and equal marriage. But with just one day to go, it is not at all clear which way the vote will go. Indeed, Helen Pidd hears from MPs in Parliament, some of whom are still unsure whether they will support or oppose the bill.
Despite the right to an assisted death consistently proving popular in polls, many across the House are concerned about how it can actually be implemented into law, in an area fraught with ethical and medical risks – around protecting terminally ill people against pressure or coercion, on protecting terminally ill people against pressure or coercion, on protecting disabled patients, and on reforming the relationship between doctors and their patients.
It’s a complicated issue, and the vote comes after weeks of increasingly heated debate. Senior politicians have openly denounced others, for example for imposing their religious beliefs on others. Lucie Thomasa palliative care and public health doctor, speaks about her own concerns – not just about the bill, but also about the way it has been debated publicly.