Vulnerable people not at risk from assisted dying bill, says MP

The lives of disabled and vulnerable people would not be at risk from a proposed assisted dying law because it would only apply to terminally ill adults, with two doctors and a judge likely to rule on each case, the MP sponsoring said yesterday.

- Robert Booth

Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP for Spen Valley, said her historic "choice at the end of life" bill would include "stringent" criteria and a cooling off period in what is likely to be one of the most controversial pieces of legislation to go before parliament in years.

However, people who are facing intolerable suffering but are not terminally ill would be denied medical assistance to end their lives under the likely terms of the bill to be introduced today.

That will fuel debate over whether the threshold for medical assistance to die should relate to suffering rather than time left to live. Some campaigners argue people whose conditions mean they can be trapped and suffering in their bodies long before they meet a narrow definition of terminal illness will be unfairly left out.