It is an end-of-life option that allows eligible individuals to legally request and obtain medications/assistance from their own and one other doctor to end their life in a peaceful, humane, and dignified manner. This is a consultative process between the patient and their doctor within a structured framework, to ensure the patient is of sound mind and fully informed.

Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) is the preferred term because it emphasises that the decision to end one’s life is voluntary, that is, a considered, freely made decision on the part of an individual. Voluntary Assisted Dying also allows for medical assistance in the event an individual is unable to take the prescribed drug by themselves.

Legislation for VAD and the conversations about end of life with two doctors will provide safety and security on choices available at the end of life.

We are all going to die. People are afraid of dying in awful circumstances, lonely, incapable, undignified and in unbearable pain.

At present it is illegal to assist a person to end his or her own life, even though suicide is not in itself a crime. Currently under the Criminal Law (Suicide) Act 1993, it is an offence to aid, abet, counsel or procure the suicide or attempted suicide of another person. The maximum penalty is 14 years in prison.

This new legislation will allow a doctor to ‘assist’ an individual by prescribing a drug that the individual can take themselves, or elect to be medically assisted. In cases where the person is physically unable to take the drug, a doctor may administer it. (This last provision removes an important source of possible discrimination against a person with medical or physical impairment.)

Everyone is going to die and the majority of people would like some control over how and where this happens. It should not be necessary for someone to travel abroad, or have to consider taking their own life, which can mean curtailing one’s life earlier than wanted. Instead they should have the choice to die at home on their own terms, surrounded by their loved ones. This we see as a fundamental human right which should be afforded to everyone who meets the criteria

There is a gap in the law which means that many people can have a ‘distressing death’, where there is physical and emotional pain to the individual and to his/her loved ones. There is also a loss of control (autonomy) over the circumstances of death and decisions about treatment. Because of this, many resort to seeking an assisted death abroad, which is very stressful, difficult and an option only available to those who can afford it. Others may decide to take their own lives, which is likely to have serious emotional consequences for their loved ones. This also carries the risk that the attempt will not be successful, leaving the individual and their loved ones worse off both physically and emotionally.

Doctors say that they have always helped their patients to have a good death, long before Assisted Dying legislation. These doctors consider it their responsibility, only on explicit request of the patient, to relieve terrible suffering at the end of life. Research in the UK suggests that already 1000 people each year receive help to die, illegally from a doctor at their request. Without legislation, this act of compassion puts the doctor at risk of prosecution.

Legislation for Assisted Dying will give individuals control over their death in that same way that they have control over other aspects of their lives. International experience shows that those who qualify for an assisted death do experience a great reduction in mental stress and are able to enjoy the time remaining to them, without the fear of pain and distress that comes as their loved ones watch them suffer. In Oregon, where Voluntary Assisted Dying has been available for over 20 years, research shows that a third of those who qualify for end of life assistance, do not go on to avail of the service, have a much improved quality of life which remains to them and go to their death more peacefully. The studies also show that their families/loved ones come to a greater level of acceptance knowing that this is what their loved one wanted.

According to independent research from Natcen, 88% of people who identify as having a long-standing condition affecting their day-to-day life support a change in the law on assisted dying, in at least some circumstances. However, the vast majority of disability organisations are either neutral or don’t have a stance on assisted dying, including: The Multiple Sclerosis Society, The Motor Neurone Disease Association, Parkinsons UK, and The Alzheimer’s Society.

Successive and independent studies have found no credible evidence in countries where assisted dying is legal, that a change in the law results in pressure upon vulnerable people. For example, a study by Professor Maragret Battin et al looked at evidence from Oregon in the US and the Netherlands, and concluded: ‘Where assisted dying is already legal, there is no current evidence for the claim that legalised PAS (physician-assisted suicide) or euthanasia will have disproportionate impact on patients in vulnerable groups’.

Doctors already assess whether a patient is of sound mind and making a voluntary choice on a daily basis when someone seeks palliative sedation, or to end their life by refusing life-sustaining treatment. And, there are strong reasons to believe that our current law on assisted dying fails to protect vulnerable people.