Just death

A moving video of a sad but determined woman. "As you watch this I am dead," she tells the camera. "But you watching this could help change the laws around assisted dyinghelping a person to end their life."

The woman is a Londoner called Paola Marra. She was 53 years old when she ended her life at the Dignitas Clinic in Switzerland.

Marra had been suffering from bowel cancer since 2021. As she explained in the video, "I'm choosing to seek assisted dying because I refuse to let a terminal illness dictate the terms of my death."

Suicide is not illegal in the UK. However, assisting someone to commit suicide is a crime in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.

Other countries take a different approach. In Canada, Austria, Spain, parts of Australia and the US, doctors can prescribe lethal drugs to terminally ill patients who ask to die. Similar right-to-die laws exist in Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg, and there are ongoing debates in Germany and France.¹

Labour leader Keir Starmer thinks the current system is unjustsomething that is not right or fair in a moral sense. Scotland, Jersey and the Isle of Man are all considering changes.

The campaign group Dignity in Dying argues: "When death is inevitable, suffering should not be." According to some surveys, 84% of the UK population support a change to the law, and 44% would be prepared to help a loved-one die.²

However, any change in the law might pressure the vulnerable into committing suicide. According to another campaigning organisation, Care not Killing, the majority of doctors and disability rights groups oppose any change.³

The state has an obligation to protect people, which is why we have laws against murder. Killing someone is a crime, even if they ask you to do so. But should those laws apply when ending their life might be the kindest thing to do?

Should assisted dying be legal?

Yes: It is compassionate to allow the terminally ill to decide the time and manner of their death. They should not suffer more than is necessary.

No: The current law is clear and protects the most vulnerable people. Changes put unfair pressure on doctors and the dying to end their life quickly.

Or... Public opinion is increasingly in favour of changing the law. The government should recognise this shift by debating the subject in more detail.