Isle of Man on track to be first in the British Isles to legalise assisted dying as Bill passes final stage in Upper House
The Isle of Man’s Assisted Dying Bill has passed the final stage in the Legislative Council, the Isle’s Upper House, today, Tuesday 28th January 2025. Members of the Legislative Council (MLCs) voted to pass Dr Alex Allinson MHK’s Assisted Dying Bill at the Bill’s Third Reading by 7-1. Dr Allinson’s Bill has progressed further than any such proposal in the British Isles, putting the Isle of Man on track to be the first to legalise assisted dying. The Bill will now return to Members of the House of Keys (MHKs) in the lower house for approval. When all Clauses and amendments are agreed by both houses, it will be sent for Royal Assent and an implementation period will begin, before terminally ill residents are able to access assisted dying, potentially from 2027.
Today’s vote came on the same day as Westminster’s Assisted Dying Bill Committee began three days of public evidence sessions, making Kim Leadbeater MP’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill the first ever Private Member’s Bill to hear oral evidence, and the Health Committee scrutinising Liam McArthur MSP’s Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill held its penultimate evidence session in the Scottish Parliament. Each Bill proposes to introduce measures to assess eligibility, ensure medical oversight, and monitor every step of the assisted dying process, with greater protections as well as greater choice for those who need and want it as they die.
Late last year on the 17th December, the Legislative Council concluded its Clauses stage, where MLCs scrutinised the Bill line by line. MLCs passed amendments that would ensure a mandatory referral to a psychiatrist is made if there are doubts about the patient’s mental capacity and ensured there is a requirement for specific training for healthcare professionals to identify coercion, duress or pressure. They also voted to echo a clause in Kim Leadbeater’s Bill that requires that a person be registered as a patient with a GP practice on the island in order to access this choice. MLCs rejected amendments including those that would have reduced the prognosis requirement from 12 months to six months and would have prohibited assisted deaths from taking place at Noble’s Hospital, the island’s main hospital.
In July 2024, MHKs voted overwhelmingly (16:8) to pass the Bill at its Third Reading in the Lower House. This followed consistent public support for law change, with two in three (66%) people in the Isle of Man supporting the introduction of assisted dying as an option for terminally ill, mentally competent adults – a survey released in October 2023 found.
Sarah Wootton, Chief Executive of Dignity in Dying, said:
“This is a historic victory for compassion as the Isle of Man takes a significant step towards giving the Manx people true choice at the end of life. Members of the Manx Upper Chamber should be congratulated for pressing ahead with this most crucial reform, giving the Bill the scrutiny and time it deserves. The Isle of Man has shown that it is fully possible to deliver a workable Bill that brings both choice for dying people and greater protections for everybody. With Bills also progressing in Westminster, Scotland and Jersey, the British Isles is on track to delivering the much-needed choice and control that dying people are calling out for.”
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For more information or interview requests, please email Molly Pike, Senior Media and Campaigns Officer at Dignity in Dying, molly.pike@dignityindying.org.uk or call 07855209809