London, Thanasis Gavos

The majority of British MPs voted in favor of continuing the legislative process for the bill to legalize voluntary assisted dying.

After a charged four-and-a-half-hour debate in the House of Commons plenary, 330 MPs voted in favor of Labor MP Kim Ledbeater’s bill and 275 against.

For this sensitive question of conscience no question of party discipline had been raised.

The bill now moves to the next stagethat is, the detailed examination at commissioner level and the possible submission of amendments.

The bill proposes to allow terminally ill adults diagnosed with less than six months to live to seek help to end their lives.

Approval by two independent doctors and a judge will be required. A period of at least seven days must elapse from the medical approval and another 14 days from the judicial approval to administer the lethal dose of medicine to the patient.

Physicians should state with certainty that the patient is not under pressure from others to request assisted suicide. In the event that it is judged that someone else pressures or forces the patient to resort to this request, a prison sentence of 14 years is imposed.

During the debate Ms Ledbeater said her proposal was not about a life or death dilemma, but about the autonomy of choice and the dignity of the individual.