Assisted dying: will the law change?

This country is on the brink of profound change, said Catherine Pepinster in The Daily Telegraph – "a change to how we view life and death". 

Next week, legislation on assisted dying will be tabled in the Commons by the Labour MP Kim Leadbeater (who topped the ballot to introduce a private members' bill). And it has every chance of passing. 

'Compassion and common sense'

The law ought to pass, said The Independent, but it must include strong safeguards against abuse. It should specify that at least two doctors agree that the patient's medical condition is terminal, and that all reasonable treatment options have been exhausted. And, given the potential financial issues at stake, there must be legal checks that the patient hasn't come under undue pressure from family members. 

But the principle that terminally ill people – "in intolerable pain and suffering, physically and mentally" – should be permitted to choose how and when they die is surely right, "on the grounds of compassion and common sense".

The argument that individuals should have this choice is "powerful, so long as it stands alone", said The Times. However, if the "right to die" is sanctioned by the state, it "does not stand alone: it becomes part of a web of other difficult choices and questions" for society as a whole.

The role of doctors and nurses would be fundamentally changed. Disabled or elderly people might well find themselves under "insidious pressure" to end their lives rather than become a "burden" on family or society. Many fear that the scope of legalised assisted dying would expand beyond the terminally ill, as has happened in Canada and the Netherlands. And if the real aim is to allay the "terrors of the terminally ill", it would surely be far better to "improve specialist palliative care for all".

'We deserve to hear all perspectives'

Will MPs vote for assisted dying? It's likely, but not certain, said Katy Balls in The Spectator. In the last Commons vote, in 2015, the motion was easily defeated. "This time around, the political landscape looks rather different": the Commons is "stacked with Labour MPs and new blood". 

Keir Starmer – who voted in favour in 2015 – has made it clear that, since this an issue of conscience, there will be a free vote, with the Government remaining neutral. 

It's disappointing that Cabinet ministers have been officially instructed not to engage in the debate, said The Daily Telegraph. The question of assisted dying, and the efficacy of safeguards, is a profoundly important one. No doubt MPs on both sides are approaching the issue with the best of intentions. But we need a proper national conversation, not a "rushed parliamentary debate" – and "we deserve to hear all perspectives".