UK lawmakers vote in favour of legalizing assisted dying

CGTN Europe

Lawmakers in the UK have voted in favour of legalizing assisted dying following a five-hour emotional debate in the House of Commons.   The law will only apply to those with six months or less to live, and each case would need approval from two doctors and a High Court judge.   Despite today’s votes, there are many months of parliamentary procedure before it becomes law.

Transcript

00:00It was 330 versus 275. I'd say quite tight, though it is not as tight as expected according to the poll.

00:09So it was a free vote, meaning MPs could vote without considering their party affiliation.

00:15They didn't have to follow party lines. It is quite divisive that it's reflected in the votes that we can see here.

00:23During the debate in the afternoon, quite graphic details of suffering before death have been described

00:29by Kim Lettbetter, the MP who introduced the bill, who said that some people have a horrible and harrowing death.

00:37Of course, there are different voices, including Labour's MP Diane Abbott, who said,

00:43I'm not against the bill itself, but I would like to raise some concerns of the safeguards in the proposals,

00:49including the involvement of a judge in the bill, as was mentioned there.

00:53So the conditions must be met in order to be eligible for assisted dying.

01:00First, you must be terminally ill, according to, as we can see from the name itself.

01:06Second, you must be over 18 and live in England and Wales and have been registered with a GP for at least 12 months.

01:14A GP is a primary care doctor here in the UK.

01:17Third, you must have the mental capacity to make the decision yourself, free from coercion and pressure,

01:23and those who use coercion to end other people's lives could face a prison sentence for up to 14 years.

01:29So two separate declarations must be made, witness and signed,

01:34and two independent doctors must approve with at least seven days between assessments,

01:39and a high court judge must rule individual requests.

01:43So these are the conditions, and the doctor will prepare the substance to end the patient's life,

01:50but the patients must take it themselves, but we don't know what the substance will be.

01:55Okay, so such an emotive issue, and really a tough ethical moral question for lawmakers,

02:01hence the reason that they're voting with their conscience on this, not along party lines.

02:06This does not become law today, does it, or tomorrow?

02:09There is quite a parliamentary process still to be gone through.

02:12No, no, no, not at all. It will take probably many months of parliamentary activity before it becomes law.

02:18As we said, it's quite a sensitive topic, and some critics fear, they've got to hear,

02:23probably this will change society's attitude to life and death,

02:26and could pressure some sick people to end their lives themselves.

02:30The bill will go to the next part of the Commons process, the committee and report stages,

02:36where there will be more time for scrutiny and opportunity for amendments.

02:40This is fairly complicated for viewers outside the UK, just to give them a flavour of its complexity.

02:47So this would not begin until next April.

02:51It would then be put to a third reading, a vote in the Commons before going to the laws,

02:56if they can pass the Commons again, and consideration of amendments will be the next stop.

03:01If the laws amend the bill, it will be kicked back to the House of Commons for consideration,

03:06and if it passes, both Houses' last stop will be Royal Assent before it becomes law.

03:12The last time the UK tried that was in 2015, but it was rejected,

03:16and we know about 10 countries in the world now allowed a city dying, a city suicidal,

03:23euthanasia, including Switzerland, Austria, and some states in the US and Canada, Luxembourg, to name just a few.

03:30Most legalised that between 2015 and 2019.

03:34The UK tried that in 2015, as I said, it was rejected, and we don't know what will happen this time.

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