Tag: Assisted suicide

It's been a dark week in the UK, with the Commons approving both abortion up to birth and assisted suicide via poisoning on the NHS. Dr Clare Craig was outside Parliament on Friday and sees reasons not to lose hope.

NHS services could face cuts to cover the cost of carrying out assisted suicides as the £500m the new suicide service is estimated to require will have to come from existing budgets, the Health Secretary has warned.

Assisted suicide is to be legalised after MPs backed Kim Leadbetter's bill by just 23 votes despite warnings the NHS does not have capacity to provide death services as well as medical services.

The lives of the most vulnerable are currently under grave threat from two bills going through Parliament, says Dr Elizabeth Evans. Self-administered abortion right up to birth may be legalised along with assisted suicide.

Kim Leadbeater's assisted suicide bill has been described by MPs as a "farce", an "embarrassment" and "beyond a joke". But last night's damning statement from the Royal College of Psychiatrists may be the fatal blow.

Kim Leadbetter has agreed to postpone implementing her proposed assisted dying law until 2029, after the next election, raising the possibility that the troubled legislation will be put out of its misery.

Dr Rachel Nicoll was a supporter of assisted suicide but Kim Leadbetter's awful bill has convinced her to reconsider. Here are the reasons she thinks letting doctors help kill their patients would be dangerous.

The assisted suicide Bill is epochal because it takes liberalism to its zenith: the state stepping in to kill citizens to make them free and equal, says Dr David McGrogan. But how far down does the slippery slope go?

MPs have voted in favour of legalising assisted suicide as Labour's massive majority allowed the legislation to clear its first hurdle in the House of Commons by 330 votes to 275.

Is there a right to die? As the Assisted Dying Bill vote looms, Prof James Alexander ponders the issues, asking if the whole debate would change if we think of it in terms of duties instead of rights.