legality
A first! … maybe …
Well, after all these years of talking and debating and campaigning it has finally happened: the Isle of Man has just become the first place in the UK to make Assisted Dying legal.
However, it’s by no means a done deal yet. Right now it just means the Manx parliament has agreed to pass this law allowing terminally ill adults with legal capacity, who have lived on the island for a minimum of five years, are registered with an Isle of Man GP, and who now have a life expectancy of 12 months or less, to end their lives, subject to the approval of two independent doctors.
But that’s not the end of the matter by any means. Right now, it’s essentially theoretical. Before this legislation can become operational, it has first to go for Royal assent. If that’s granted, it could become law later this year and an assisted dying service could be in place by 2027 – both these steps will involve a lot of work and discussion and close scrutiny. And there are no foregone conclusions.
Oh, and there’s another complication: three quarters of doctors who responded to an Isle of Man Medical Society survey in 2023 said they were opposed to assisted dying, and a third would consider leaving the island if the legislation were introduced. Now that feels to me like quite an obstacle.
And now, in the same week, we hear that the proposed bill for England and Wales, which has met with enormous problems since it passed the first stage in the Commons last year, has been kicked into the long grass after its Labour sponsor, Kim Leadbeater, proposed delaying it for two years until after the next election. There is a distinct possibility it would be dropped altogether by a different government.
I’m sure, you like me, have heard plenty of Joe/Jessie Bloggs stating their absolutely views with supreme confidence, but actually finding an ethical, safe, workable method of implementing change, and enshrining it in law, is fraught with problems. Not surprisingly really; after all, life itself is sacred, and feelings run high on both sides of the arguments.
