One March day, London Paola Marra flew to Zurich. Two days later she attended Dignitas: an assisted dying clinic.¹ Marra, who had stage-four bowel cancer, wanted to die on her own terms.

Assisted dying and suicide are becoming steadily more popular.² Forms of it have become legal in many countries.³

But it remains illegal in many more. In the law of England and Wales, euthanasiaThe deliberate and painless ending of a life. is considered manslaughterThe crime of killing another human either without meaning to, or in circumstances that are not as serious as murder. or murder. Those charged can face life imprisonment.

Many believe that this should change. In January TV presenter Esther Rantzen launched a petition asking the UK Parliament to debate assisted dying and bring it into law. By the start of February it had over 100,000 signatories. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is "personally in favour" of changing the law.

Campaigners believe assisted dying allows people to die in dignity rather than living with a painful disease. 

Rantzen, who has stage-four cancer, said: "If I reach the stage when my life is unendurable, I would love my nearest and dearest to have the memory of my death being one I chose, peaceful and without pain."

Yet not everyone is on board. In her powerful new BBC documentary Better Off Dead?, actor Liz Carr has delivered a blistering attack on assisted suicide.⁴

Carr has used a wheelchair since she was 14. She thinks assisted dying will make people feel compelled to end their lives. Her film challenges the idea that disabled lives are worth less than others. 

Carr says: "I fear we've so devalued certain groups of people - ill people, disabled people, older people - that I don't think it's in their best interests to enshrine in law the right of doctors to kill certain people."

A government could, for instance, cut welfare for poor or disabled people, encouraging them to choose to die. People could perhaps push elderly relatives towards death in a bid to stop supporting them. A law claiming to be kind could perhaps be used for incredible cruelty.

Should assisted suicide be a human right?

Yes: Just as our lives are our own, so are our deaths. It is only fair that we should have the right to choose how we exit the world. It is evil to force terminally ill people to bear severe pain.

No: Allowing assisted dying is the start of a slippery slope. It would be easy to exploit. And there is no fair way to ensure that vulnerable people are protected. 

Or... A human right is something that applies to everyone. But should, for example, a depressed five year old have the right to die? Even if assisted suicide becomes legal it should have its limits.