Assisted dying a movement whose time has come, as England’s first ever citizens’ jury on topic overwhelmingly recommends law change
England’s first ever citizens’ jury on assisted dying has overwhelmingly recommended law change. Over seven in 10 (71.3%) of the jury members who took part in The Nuffield Council on Bioethics Assisted Dying Project voted for a change in the law for terminally ill, mentally competent citizens, the organisation confirmed in its interim report today (Friday 13th September 2024). The results are released ahead of the Second Reading debate of Lord Falconer’s Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults Private Member’s Bill on November 15th.
Members of the jury, randomly selected to provide a representative sample of the English population, participated in an 8-week long deliberative process, hearing from a range of experts and considering a wide array of evidence before casting their votes on whether the law should be changed. Of the 28 Jury members who were able to participate in the final vote, 20 agreed that the law should change to permit assisted dying in England. Support for law change and strength of support grew over the course of the process. Attitudes towards assisted dying at the outset showed 17 of the 28 jury members agreed assisted dying should be legal in England, but by the end of the process this had risen to 20 jury members. The number of jury members strongly agreeing the law should change increased significantly from 10 to 16.
The Nuffield Council’s findings reflect the results of other citizens’ juries on assisted dying, held in Jersey and France, which strongly recommended that the blanket ban on assisted dying must be reformed. Opinion polls from a range of sources have consistently shown high levels of public support in the UK. The largest and most in-depth survey of public opinion on assisted dying, published in March this year, found three-quarters of people in Great Britain are in favour of change with a majority of support in every parliamentary constituency and across all ages, genders, socio-economic status and voting intention.
This comes amid significant progress towards greater choice in the end of life across the British Isles. In July, Lord Falconer introduced the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults Private Member’s Bill to the House of Lords, which will receive its Second Reading on Friday 15th November. In July the Prime Minister “doubled down” on his commitment to making time for an assisted dying bill to be debated and for a free vote – a promise he made personally to Dame Esther Rantzen earlier this year.
In July an Assisted Dying Bill in the Isle of Man progressed further than any bill of its kind in the British Isles, after a proposal introduced by Dr Allinson MHK was supported overwhelmingly at Third Reading. The Bill begins its implementation phase as soon as next year, with assisted dying potentially an option for terminally ill residents by 2027. Assisted dying proposals are also progressing in the parliaments of Jersey and Scotland, where Liam McArthur MSP’s Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults Bill is being scrutinised by the Scottish Parliament’s Health, Social Care and Sport Committee.
Sarah Wootton, Chief Executive of Dignity in Dying, said:
“The results of this Citizens’ Jury, coupled with the findings of the largest ever poll on this issue released earlier this year, show the clear strength of public opinion on assisted dying: in fact people’s support strengthens over time. Whichever way you look at it, people are demanding choice at the end of life.
“It’s clear that when people are given time to look at this issue in-depth, examine all the evidence and hear different perspectives on the debate, they continue to overwhelmingly support change. It is inarguable that the public wants this reform to happen.
“Many of us have seen the devastation the status quo causes dying people and their loved ones. For as long as we don’t change the law, dying people will suffer despite good care with many forced to take matters into their own hands, whether in Switzerland at eyewatering expense or at home in unimaginable ways. The public understands this, and Westminster is at last catching up.
“The recent parliamentary inquiry into assisted dying by the Health and Social Care Select Committee concluded that jurisdictions that have introduced terminal illness laws have not expanded eligibility criteria and that palliative care often improves after law change. Lord Falconer’s Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults in the House of Lords proposes such a law for the UK. Safety is woven into the fabric of these proposals, introducing practical measures to assess eligibility, ensure rigorous medical oversight, and robustly monitor every part of the process.
“The Prime Minister has confirmed the Government would make parliamentary time available for debate on assisted dying in the Commons, and the election has brought a new generation of MPs who understand the case for law change. When MPs come to debate an assisted dying bill for the first time in almost a decade they must consider whether they will answer the call for compassion, or preserve an unpopular and unsafe status quo.”
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For more information please contact Joseph Crook, Media and Campaigns Officer at Dignity in Dying at joseph.crook@dignityindying.org.uk or 07855 209809