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Assisted dying campaigners hope to make 2024 ‘tipping point’ for UK legislation
(www.theguardian.com)
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Efforts to create new rights for terminally ill people to seek assistance in ending their lives are due to take place in the Isle of Man and Jersey in the new year, with a bill also being debated in Scotland.
Advocates claim they can achieve a “tipping point” next year should laws allowing terminally ill, mentally competent adults to choose an assisted death take a step closer.
It comes after the Observer last week published an impassioned plea by actor Diana Rigg to legalise assisted dying, in a message recorded shortly before her death three years ago.
In Scotland, Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur’s members’ bill would give certain terminally ill patients the right to assistance to end their lives, rather than being forced abroad.
However, opponents of the measure say that all the concerns they hold remain as relevant as ever – including the difficulties in defining those who would be eligible, as well as the risk that vulnerable people would feel pressured into ending their life.
Alistair Thompson, spokesperson for the Care Not Killing group, claimed that a recent survey suggested support for assisted dying measures had waned.
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