More assisted suicide concerns

Peers have been considering an amendment that would move assisted dying from a panel-based system to a court-based system, as originally proposed.

And during the fifth day of debate on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, Lord McCrea, an Evangelical Christian, highlighted the fundamental issue: “No one can state categorically that a person has only six months to live.”

He added: “As a minister in the [Presbyterian] Church for 50 years, I have known numerous people who have been told that they have only six months to live, but they lived for years after that. Therefore, while it has been suggested that [assisted dying] applies only to those who have six months to live, we do not know that, and we cannot give that assurance.”