{"id":24667,"date":"2025-03-25T14:32:16","date_gmt":"2025-03-25T15:32:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=24667"},"modified":"2025-03-25T23:24:16","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T23:24:16","slug":"assisted-dying-law-could-take-four-years-to-implement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=24667","title":{"rendered":"Assisted dying law could take four years to implement"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A new assisted dying law for England and Wales could take up to four years to fully implement due to additional safeguards being adopted as the bill goes through Parliament.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP behind the bill, described the four-year time limit as “a backstop” but acknowledged changes to the bill \u2013 including new panels to oversee applications \u2013 will “inevitably take longer to implement”.<\/p>\n

The bills supporters had previously stated they wanted assisted dying to be accessible within two years of being signed into law.<\/p>\n

If approved, the bill would allow terminally ill adults expected to die within six months to seek help to end their own life.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Opponents warn that people could be put under pressure to end their lives. They want improvements to palliative care instead.<\/p>\n

But supporters argues the law needs changing because some people have horrible deaths, however good their end-of-life or palliative care is.<\/p>\n

Responding to the extension to the implementation deadline, a source opposed to the bill told the BBC: “This shows it’s a long way from safe. If they need four years to work it out then it shows this bill is still riddled with problems.”<\/p>\n

MPs are debating the amendment in a committee scrutinising the proposed law line-by-line.<\/p>\n

The committee is hoping to finish going through the bill on Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n

A spokesman for Leadbeater said: “Kim has always been clear that it’s more important to get the assisted dying legislation right than to do it quickly.<\/p>\n

“The bill now contains even stronger safeguards than when it was first tabled, with a new judge-led Voluntary Assisted Dying Commission and multi-disciplinary panels to examine every application. These will inevitably take longer to implement.<\/p>\n

“But the four-year limit is not a target, it’s a backstop. Kim hopes and believes the service can be delivered more quickly if it becomes law later this year.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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MPs voted in support of a proposal to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales, in November 2024.<\/p>\n

The historic vote saw 330 MPs support the assisted dying bill, and 275 reject it.<\/p>\n

MPs were given a free vote on the issue, which meant they could make their own decision rather than follow party instructions. The government is impartial on the issue.<\/p>\n

Months of detailed scrutiny and further votes in Parliament are required before the bill could become law.<\/p>\n

Changes have already been made by the committee of MPs examining the bill.<\/p>\n

For example, under the original proposals, a High Court judge would have to approve each request to end a life.<\/p>\n

But Leadbeater suggested<\/a> a three-person panel comprising a senior legal figure, a psychiatrist and a social worker should oversee applications instead.<\/p>\n

The MPs reviewing the bill have agreed to adopt this approach<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At present, laws throughout the UK prevent people from asking for medical help to die.<\/p>\n

However, proposed laws to give terminally ill adults the right to choose to end their life have been agreed in the Isle of Man<\/a>, which is part of the British Isles.<\/p>\n

While it remains illegal in most countries, more than 300 million people now live in countries which have legalised assisted dying.<\/p>\n

Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Spain and Austria have all introduced assisted dying laws since 2015.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new assisted dying law for England and Wales could take up to four years to fully implement due to additional safeguards being adopted as the bill goes through Parliament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24669,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24667"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24667\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24670,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24667\/revisions\/24670"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}