The British Parliament voted on November 29 to allow terminally ill people to commit suicide by seeking outside help. The MP’s individual motion, tabled by a member of the ruling Labor Party group, was passed by 330 votes to 275 after hours of detailed debate. This means that the Labor faction on the issue of legalizing euthanasia has also split, with the ruling party having a much larger majority in the House of Commons.
Minister of Health Labor Wes Streeting and Minister of Justice Shabana Mahmoud They had previously stated that they would not support the bill.
The Labor government did not demand that the Labor Party vote unanimously on the bill; each deputy could make a decision at his own discretion.
The vote on Friday afternoon does not mean that the bill will come into force immediately, as it is clear that the proposal will be debated several times in the coming weeks by the House of Commons and the upper house, the House of Lords. .
The draft could come into force as law if both chambers reach a consensus on its final text.
Under the bill, which applies to England and Wales, terminally ill patients who are mentally capable of making decisions and acting and who are clearly determined to make their decision of their own free will, without external coercion or pressure, will be able to benefit. outside help to end their lives.
According to the bill, only adults who have a medical certificate indicating that they have six months or less to live can benefit from this law.
Those who wish to commit suicide without assistance must declare it in two written statements signed by different, independent and unknown witnesses. Two independent, unknown doctors will also have to notarize that the patient meets all the legal requirements necessary to make a decision about euthanasia, and at least one of the two doctors will have to testify to this before the High Court in London.
The trial judge may also listen to the patient and continue to consider for 14 days whether to allow the patient to seek help to end his or her life.
Current UK criminal law makes it punishable to assist another person to commit suicide and those found guilty of such a charge are punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
According to a recent poll by the Ipsos Mori group, 65% of Britons support euthanasia, now officially known in Britain as the legalization of assisted terminations.
