Bills to legalise Assisted Dying have now been defeated in Scotland and in England & Wales. Campaigners are promising that their fights will continue. For the London Parliament, their future path is clear. They are going to try again in the 2026/27 Parliamentary session. By law, the House of Lords cannot block the same Bill… Continue reading Where now for UK law change ?
There is likely to have been rather more complexity to Wendy Duffy’s case than was reported in the British newspapers this week. According to the Daily Mail, she has been accepted for a VAD (Voluntary Assisted Death) by Pegasos because she is suffering terribly from the loss of her son four years ago. At 56,… Continue reading The Wendy Duffy case
It is always a bad sign when journalists, sent to cover a newsworthy event, start writing about themselves rather than the event itself. We hesitated, therefore, before posting this message about the “hits” to our own website. However, the most recent figures do indicate a number of trends that are indicative of the international interest… Continue reading Website traffic
In the 16 years between April 2009 and March 2026 there were 209 cases referred by the UK police to the Crown Prosecution Service for possible prosecution on the grounds of “assisting a suicide” under the Suicide Act of 1961. That was an average of 13 per year. Many of these will have been self-referred… Continue reading UK Assisted Suicide cases
The release last week by Dignitas of their figures for 2025 revealed a critical point about assisted dying. It is a point that has been entirely neglected by campaigners who continue to resist any change to the law.. The worldwide membership of Dignitas is now 15,968. That is an increase of 6½% on the 2024… Continue reading A critical point neglected
The news this evening that the Scottish Parliament has voted against its Assisted Dying Bill will be a huge blow to right-to-die campaigners everywhere. The vote, by 57 in favour to 69 against, is likely to postpone by at least five years any meaningful attempt to change the current law, even though more than 70%… Continue reading Scotland says No
When someone dies in Switzerland as a result of an Assisted Voluntary Death then a death certificate needs to be issued. For local Swiss residents, this is a simple procedure and rarely takes longer than a few days. For non-Swiss visitors, however, the certificate needs to be in the form of an “International Death Certificate”… Continue reading Trouble with Swiss death certificates
If you live in the UK and help someone to go to Switzerland for an Assisted Voluntary Death then you will, almost certainly, have committed the offence of “assisting a suicide”. Simply joining them on the trip would probably be sufficient. However, crucially, you would not be prosecuted for the offence if you were clearly… Continue reading “The delay IS the punishment”
Athanasios was launched in March 2025. By the end of the year it had completed 82 AVD cases and had built a team of eight staff members. From a standing start it had therefore served about 12% of the non-Swiss people seeking to end their lives peacefully in Switzerland. That was quite an achievement. Their… Continue reading Athanasios – an update
Assisted Dying has been legalised in New York and Illinois. Their respective Governors have now signed the new Bills. They will become operative in New York in August 2026 and in Illinois the following month. In both states, the new legislation will allow mentally capable, terminally ill adults with six months or less to live… Continue reading Assisted Dying legalised in two more US States
