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.
Labour MP Naz Shah blasts assisted suicide Bill as “not fit for purpose”
A leading Labour Committee member has criticised the sponsor of the assisted suicide Bill, Kim Leadbeater, for weakening the Bill, and shared her belief that the legislation, amended after Committee Stage, is not fit for purpose. Naz Shah, Labour MP for Bradford West,...
Leadbeater accused of “misleading” MPs over level of public support for assisted suicide Bill
Kim Leadbeater has been accused of misleading MPs over the level of public support for her assisted suicide legislation. In an email to MPs sent on Sunday evening, seen by MailOnline, the sponsor of the assisted suicide Bill, Kim Leadbeater, claimed that 'new data'...
Oregon 2024 assisted suicide statistics: Numbers remain high and complication rate unknown in two-thirds of cases
The number of assisted suicides remains high in Oregon and the complication rate for assisted suicide is unknown for more than two out of every three cases in 2024, according to data released by the Oregon Health Authority. The latest annual assisted suicide report...
Week six wrap-up: hospices could be obliged to allow assisted suicide on their premises
The assisted suicide Bill Committee scrutinising Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill met for its sixth week of sittings last week to continue its line-by-line scrutiny of the Bill. On 18 and 19 March, MPs on the Committee rejected...
Don’t vote for “irredeemably flawed” assisted suicide Bill, Labour MPs urge colleagues
A group of Labour MPs have launched a scathing attack on Kim Leadbeater’s assisted suicide Bill in a letter to colleagues, calling it “irredeemably flawed and not fit to become law” and pointing to the emergence of “significant new risks” during the recently completed...
Californian woman shares “disturbing” assisted suicide horror story
An unnamed man who was suffering from terminal cancer was left shaking and moaning after ingesting pills to end his life, leaving his daughter, who witnessed the scene, “shaking and crying”. Making plans to end his life in his home state of California after receiving...