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Assisted dying should be legalised in England, according to a panel made up of members of the public.
The so-called “citizens’ jury” – a randomly selected group brought together to discuss the topic by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics (NCOB) – deliberated for eight weeks.
It concluded that if a person has a terminal illness and capacity to make their own decision about an assisted death, they should be able to legally access both physician-assisted suicide (where healthcare professionals prescribe lethal drugs to eligible patients to take themselves) and voluntary euthanasia (where healthcare professionals administer lethal drugs to patients with the intention of ending their life).
“This is a significant finding that will be valuable for policy makers who are considering whether and how to take forward legislative change,” said Professor Anne Kerr, chair of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics’ Assisted Dying Advisory Board.
Twenty-eight members of the public made up the jury, participating in an eight-week process designed to explore the complexity of assisted dying.
They heard from a range of experts and considered evidence before voting on whether the law should be changed to allow assisted death.
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Twenty members either strongly agreed or tended to agree the law should change to permit assisted dying in England, while seven said they either strongly disagreed or tended to disagree with a law change and one person was undecided.
Assisted dying is legal in several countries including Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Switzerland, and remains illegal in the UK.
Encouraging or assisting a suicide in England and Wales can lead to criminal prosecution and up to 14 years in prison.
The top two reasons for supporting a change in the law were to stop pain and a…
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