UK MPs told not to rush assisted dying

LONDON: The most senior doctor in England warned on Tuesday that setting up an assisted dying service for terminally ill people should not be rushed if lawmakers choose to legalise euthanasia.

Chris Whitty, the UK government´s chief medical officer, made the comments as he became the first witness to appear before a parliamentary committee scrutinising an assisted dying bill.

Whitty said he would “rather this wasn´t running against a timeline,” after a lawmaker suggested it could take two years from the law being changed to an assisted dying service being in place.

“My view is this is something which is best not done at speed if we can avoid it,” Whitty told MPs.

He added the process for choosing assisted dying should be straightforward, stressing that someone with six months to live should not be “stuck in a bureaucratic thicket”.

“My view is the best safeguards are simple safeguards,” said Whitty.

Lawmakers voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill in November, progressing it to the next stage of the parliamentary process for scrutiny.

Proposed by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, it would allow assisted suicide in England and Wales for adults with an incurable illness who have a life expectancy of fewer than six months.

They would have to be able to take the substance that causes their death themselves and any patient´s wish to die would have to be signed off by a judge and two doctors.

The measures are stricter than assisted dying laws in other European countries but opponents say tougher safeguards are needed to prevent people from being coerced into choosing to die.

Supporters say changing the law would give dying people greater dignity and protections at the end of life.