Assisted suicide usually involves a health practitioner prescribing a lethal dose for a person to administer themselves, usually by swallowing a combination of drugs.
In the United Kingdom, the Suicide Act 1961 legalised the attempt to take one’s own life, but it kept illegal the assistance of another’s death.
Assisted suicide is legal in a handful of jurisdictions globally including Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg and a small number of states in the US.
Right To Life UK campaigns against any attempt to legalise assisted suicide, and for the development of palliative care services and end of life care that remove any perceived need for assisted suicide.
MPs debate “crisis in funding” for palliative care while assisted suicide could be fully funded
A number of MPs have suggested that, before Parliament considers the question of assisted suicide, there is an urgent need to improve the provision of palliative care, which MPs described as having a "crisis in funding". In explicit reaction to Kim Leadbeater's...
Canadian euthanasia campaigner: ‘I may have chosen to live if better care were available’
A lead campaigner for Canada’s euthanasia programme may have chosen to live if adequate care had been available, according to reports. Jean Truchon, who had cerebral palsy, was one of the key figures in campaigning to expand the scope of euthanasia and assisted...
Families unable to challenge assisted suicide ruling under Leadbeater Bill
Lawyers have warned that under the assisted suicide Bill currently being debated, once a ruling has been made that a person meets the criteria for assisted suicide, it cannot be challenged by relatives. As Kim Leadbeater's Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill...
Disability activist: prioritise NHS over assisted suicide bill
A leading disability rights activist believes improving the NHS should be prioritised over Kim Leadbeater’s assisted suicide Bill. George Fielding a wheelchair user and disability rights activist with cerebral palsy has called for greater resources to be allocated to...
Assisted suicide Bill will be a “distraction” from improving palliative care, MPs and doctors warn
Palliative care doctors, and MPs who voted both for and against the assisted suicide Bill, are worried that it will be a "distraction" from improving palliative care, which doctors have warned is unable to cope with a rise in demand. After Kim Leadbeater’s...
Vulnerable Australians resort to euthanasia rather than face long delays to receive healthcare
Elderly and vulnerable people in Australia have resorted to ending their lives by euthanasia rather than endure long delays on a waitlist to get the support they need to live with a condition. A number of stories of sick and elderly people in Australia ending their...