Assisted dying bill: Plan to scrap need for High Court approval

Assisted dying bill: Plan to scrap need for High Court approval

Assisted dying cases would no longer have to be signed off by the High Court under changes suggested by the bill’s supporters. The proposed law currently says a High Court judge must check each person is eligible and has not been coerced into making the decision to die. But BBC News has been told Kim … Read more

Patients dying in hospital corridors, say nurses

Patients dying in hospital corridors, say nurses

Getty Images Patients are dying in corridors and pregnant women are miscarrying in side rooms as overwhelmed hospitals struggle to cope, nurses say. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said evidence provided by more than 5,000 of its members across the UK this winter also showed cupboards, car parks, bathrooms and nursing stations were being … Read more

Assisted dying bill: Terminally ill people react after MPs vote

Assisted dying bill: Terminally ill people react after MPs vote

BBC Nik Ward is disappointed the bill has passed and worries about its implications for vulnerable people Terminally ill people are a step closer to being able to choose when they die after MPs voted to support a proposed change to the law. The right to an assisted death will be granted to people with … Read more

Fix palliative care before allowing assisted dying

Fix palliative care before allowing assisted dying

Getty Images Fixing the struggling palliative care system must be an immediate priority for the government, now that MPs have backed changing the law to allow assisted dying, senior doctors say. The Association for Palliative Medicine (APM) says there is a risk the funding needed to pay for doctors and the courts to oversee assisted … Read more

MPs back proposals to legalise assisted dying

MPs back proposals to legalise assisted dying

Reuters Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, who put forward the bill, joined supporters outside Parliament after the vote MPs have backed proposals to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales in a historic vote which paves the way for a change in the law. Under draft legislation being considered by Parliament, terminally ill adults expected to … Read more