Britain’s upper house to discuss euthanasia bill

	Tweet

Britain’s House of Lords is to debate a bill on assisted suicide on Monday that would allow doctors to prescribe, but not administer, lethal drugs to terminally ill people.

Euthanasia or assisted dying is banned in Britain but so called “death tourism,” where people travel from the UK to end their lives in countries which permit it, is on the rise.

Under the bill, only “mentally competent adults” would be able to ask for assistance.

The peer introducing the bill in the upper house, Lord Joffe, told Reuters he was confident it would be supported. “This is about preventing the suffering of terminally ill patients for whom palliative care is not the solution. It’s about the prevention of suffering,” he said.

The bill will be formally introduced in early November and voted on at a later date.

Joffe said if backed, it could be next year before the bill moved to be debated in the House of Commons where it is unlikely to be supported.

Euthanasia is a controversial issue in Britain and both Anglican and Catholic church leaders have urged peers not to back the bill.

Under current laws, Britons face 14 years in jail for helping a patient die, a penalty that is among the harshest in Europe.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, told the Mail on Sunday newspaper he remained opposed to the practice, despite having watched his mother’s “painful months of decline and dementia”.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, told BBC One’s Sunday AM programme he was totally against a voluntary euthanasia bill.

“Not because I have no sympathy, but I also have sympathy for the law which protects life,” he said.

Joffe said the progress of the bill would depend on whether or when the government gives it time to be discussed in the Commons. He is set to introduce it there in the next couple of weeks.

“I’m not sure of the likely timing,” he said, “but what I’m sure of is that one day we will have assisted dying.”

RELATED STORIES:
Bad days for South Korea’s men with blood type B   Half of U.S. states have comprehensive smoking bans: CDC   Pope hospitalized again after suffering relapse of flu, fever   Obesity: The walking financial time bomb   Fate of last smallpox virus stocks divides WHO   Silica issue clouds outlook for asbestos bill   USDA finds less E. coli tainted meat in 2004   WHO presses governments, fearing bird flu pandemic   One in Four Girls Aged 12-17 Were Involved in Serious Fights or Attacks in the Past Year   Four more Vietnamese suspected to have bird flu   Some chronic disorders more common in Gulf War vets   Stopping Harmful Oral Bacteria in Their Path

Comments

[ + Post Your Own ]

Now you're in the public comment zone. What follows is not Armenian Medical Network's stuff; it comes from other people and we don't vouch for it. A reminder: By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.

There are no comments for this entry yet. [ + Comment here + ]