Lords back assisted dying providing judge gives final ruling
Proposals to use judges as the final arbiters of who can be helped to die go some way to satisfying opponents to Lord Falconer’s Assisted Dying Bill. Lord Pannick QC proposed judicial oversight in amendments to the Bill which went before the House of Lords yesterday. The Lords, in the first Parliamentary vote on the Bill, gave it their approval.
Baroness Butler-Sloss, former head of the High Court Family Division, was among critics of the Bill who said giving judges a crucial role in assisted dying cases could provide the safeguards needed.
She and Lord Carlile QC had previously criticised the Bill as a “blank cheque” for euthanasia. They were concerned that vulnerable people might be pressured into saying they wanted to end their lives.
read more