by Anais Durand

The House of Lords is currently split over whether to back Lord Falconer’s Assisted Dying Bill, which is currently being debated in Westminster.

The bill is for those who are terminally ill with less than six months to live, and whose death will involve continuous, unbearable and incurable suffering. The patient has to be a mentally competent adult who has displayed a clear and settled intention to end their own life. In order to receive the necessary assistance to commit suicide by the self-administration of lethal drugs, two doctors need to sign the patient’s declaration and be satisfied that the person has a condition which cannot be reversed by treatment and is expected to die within 6 months. 

The legality of suicide in the UK is no longer controversial. However, those who are physically incapable of carrying out their own suicide are in a different position. They have to rely on others' help and yet, under current legislation, that may result in prosecution for those who assist them. To put it squarely, terminally ill patients who are dependent on others are effectively denied making a choice about the continuity of their existence.

Assisted Dying is a sensitive issue that divide many people, although more than 70% of people in the UK agree it would be a positive measure.

Supporters of the Bill argue it would end the excruciating suffering of the terminally ill, whereas opponents warn that it would be a step further towards assisted suicide and euthanasia, the direct administration of lethal drugs to patients who are not dying, such as chronically ill patients, those in a coma, or people with degenerating conditions that prevent them from living independently. Euthanasia is currently punishable by life imprisonment. Another argument for passing the Assisted Dying bill is that an Assisted Dying law has been implemented in Oregon in the USA and has worked for the past 16 years.

The requirements of the Bill are that the individual is terminally ill, is suffering intensely and
seeks to hasten the end to that suffering, as they also have to deal with issues such as loss of autonomy, a decreasing ability to participate in activities that made life enjoyable and an inevitable loss of dignity. It is sad to observe that more often than not morphine and 'pain management' treatments are not effective enough and do very little for those nearing the end of their life.

Led by Sir Terence English, a former president of the Royal College of Surgeons, who is also a patron of the charity Dignity in Dying, a group of twenty-seven senior figures, including 11 present or former presidents of royal medical colleges and a former NHS medical director, have written a letter to their medical peers urging them to back Lord Falconer's bid to legalise assisted dying.

"We believe it would provide the option of relief to a significant number of patients who suffer unendurably during the terminal days or weeks of a difficult illness despite the best that palliative care can offer," they write.

What are your views on the matter? Are you in favour of the Assisted Dying bill, or against it? Do we have a right to impose a life no longer deemed worth living by the person living it?

Leave your opinions below! For more information visit The Guardian’s website to read their selection of articles discussing the Assisted Dying Bill here.