British lawmakers have voted to move forward on a bill permitting assisted death for terminally ill patients in England and Wales.
After five hours of debate, the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill passed in the House of Commons with a 330-275 vote, The New York Times reported. The bill allows those over the age of 18 to request medical assistance with death if they have fewer than six months to live.
“Let’s be clear, we’re not talking about a choice between life or death, we are talking about giving dying people a choice about how to die,” the bill’s sponsor, MP Kim Leadbeater said.
“We are the safeguard, this place, this Parliament, you and me,” Conservative lawmaker Danny Kruger said. “We are the people who protect the most vulnerable in society from harm and yet we stand on the brink of abandoning that role.”
Kruger added that he met doctors in Canada who “personally kill hundreds of patients a year in their special clinics.” When groans emerged from the MPs present at the vote, Kruger said, “If honorable members have a difficulty with the language, then I wonder what they’re doing here. This is what we are talking about.”
Kruger told Sky News that in the months of debate to come, there will be “a further opportunity to improve it if we can, and if we can’t, then I hope we’ll be able to reject it.”
