LONDON: British lawmakers on Friday gave initial approval to a euthanasia bill allowing terminally ill adults to end their lives in England and Wales. After a very emotional debate in the British Parliament, MPs have approved the historic Assisted Dying Bill i.e. Euthanasia by 275 votes against 330. According to this bill, the elderly patients whose life is expected to end within six months will be able to seek medical assistance when they die.
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was introduced as a private member’s bill in the British Parliament by Labor MP Kim Leadbeater. 330 votes were cast in favor of this bill while 275 MPs voted against it. In this way this bill has been passed with a majority of 55 votes. This means the House of Lords can go through a lengthy process of amendment and scrutiny before the bill becomes law. A similar bill could not be passed in 2015.
The MPs were so divided on the issue of this bill that when the debate on it started in Parliament, every MP expressed his opinion openly without being bound by the party line. Prime Minister Keir Starmer voted in favor of the bill. His spokesperson said that the entire country is keeping an eye on the voting to be held in Parliament today. The vote came after hours of emotional debate on issues such as moral values, compassion, pain, law, faith, crime and money during the debate on the bill in Parliament. When the Assisted Dying Bill was being debated in Parliament, its supporters and opponents gathered outside the Parliament. Hundreds of people demonstrated with placards in support and against the bill.
Supporters of the assisted dying bill say the law would help terminally ill patients die with dignity and be relieved of unnecessary suffering. On the other hand, it will ensure adequate protection to prevent people nearing the end of their lives from ending their lives.
Supporters of the bill cite heartbreaking incidents where family members and a patient suffer in the last stages of life and secretly commit suicide, because assisting someone in dying is currently a crime. “We need to be clear that we are not talking about giving anyone the choice of life or death,” said Kim Leadbeater, the bill’s lead sponsor. We are talking about giving the dying person a choice as to how to die.
Opponents of this law say that it will put the lives of many people in danger. People suffering from terminal illness may be forced to end their lives directly or indirectly to avoid becoming a burden. With assisted death, family members can persuade the terminally ill, the elderly, and the disabled to choose death in order to save money and relieve the burden. Danny Kruger, who opposed the bill, said he believed Parliament could do better than providing a ‘state suicide service’ for the terminally ill and that the role of MPs is to provide protection to society’s most vulnerable. .
