Paola Marra spent March in a flurry. The 53-year-old Londoner dined at the finest restaurants, hobnobbed at celebrity hotspots and hung out with old friends.

It was a long goodbye to life. One day 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 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 Scotland, MSPMember of the Scottish Parliament. Liam McArthur plans to bring a bill to the Scottish Parliament that would make assisted suicide legal. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is "personally in favour" of changing the law.

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.

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 suffers from arthrogryposis, a condition that severely restricts her joints. As a result she has used a wheelchair since she was 14. Her film challenges the idea that disabled lives are worth less than others. 

Carr believes that legalising assisted dying will create a situation where people feel obliged to end their lives. She says: "If a non-disabled person wants to commit assisted suicide it's seen as a tragedy. If a disabled person does, it's a release."

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 barbaric that we force terminally ill people to bear severe pain.

No: Legalising assisted dying is the start of a slippery slope. The potential for exploitation is enormous. And there is no adequate 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.