By David Geddes. Since Beauchamp and Childress introduced the four pillars of medical ethics in their 1979 book Principles on Biomedical Ethics, there has been a discourse on which of the pillars, if any, accurately upholds the principles and values of contemporary medicine. Each pillar can be considered fundamental in some contexts, yet in others […]
Category: Assisted dying
Why Administration Of Lethal Drugs Should Not Be The Role Of The Doctor
By Sally Barker and Zoë Fritz The Westminster Parliament is currently considering Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which would make doctors both gatekeepers and facilitators of an assisted death for eligible terminally ill adults. The legislation proposes that doctors are involved at several stages of the process. Firstly, they must listen […]
The New Gatekeepers: the role of the UK High Court in the oversight of medical assistance in dying
By Sean R. Riley After decades of unsuccessful attempts by advocates, in November 2024, the United Kingdom House of Commons passed a second reading of a bill permitting medical assistance-in-dying (MAiD). The bill still faces a long legislative road before royal assent, but MAiD may very well be a reality for English and Welsh terminally […]
‘Assisted dying’ is assisted suicide and/or euthanasia
By David Albert Jones ‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’ ‘The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’ My article in the Journal of Medical Ethics is […]
The Assisted Dying Debate and the Questions We Aren’t Asking
By Christina Lamb and Daniel Wainstock Judith Butler once wrote, “Precisely because a living being may die, it is necessary to care for that being so that it may live. Only under conditions in which the loss would matter does the value of the life appear.” As the Assisted Dying (AD) debate progresses following its […]
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill: Many challenges ahead
By Ilaria Bertini. Finally last week, the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill drafted by Kim Leadbeater MP has been published ahead of the Second Reading debate and vote on 29 November 2024. The proposed law on physician assisted dying (PAD) is mooted as being one of the strictest in the world in ensuring […]
Scottish support for assisted dying/assisted suicide is ebbing away
By David Albert Jones. On 27 March 2024, Liam McArthur introduced his Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill. He said that he was “absolutely convinced” that the legislation would be passed as “there is growing public support for the policy”. Similarly, when the Bill was proposed in 2022 it was argued that public […]