logo
welcome
BBC

BBC

How does assisted dying work in other countries?

BBC
Summary
Nutrition label

81% Informative

MPs will vote on giving terminally ill adults in England and Wales the right to have an assisted death.

More than 300 million people now live in countries which have legalised assisted dying.

Canada , Australia , New Zealand , Spain and Austria have all introduced assisted dying laws in the past decade .

Supporters say it will be the strictest set of rules in the world, with patients needing approval of a High Court judge.

Critics say changing the law would be a dangerous step that would place the vulnerable at risk.

Spain and Austria have legalised assisted dying for both terminal illness and intolerable suffering.

MSPs at Holyrood are to debate a similar bill covering Scotland as that being voted on at Westminster .

A bill to allow terminally ill adult patients with 12 months to live has nearly passed all its stages in the Isle of Man parliament.