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17 January 2025 / Simon Parsons
Issue: 8100 / Categories: Opinion , Health , Human rights , Criminal
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The assisted dying Bill: all for nothing?

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The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill has prompted fierce debate on both sides, but is a Bill needed at all? Simon Parsons considers the existing law & guidance

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill put forward last year by Kim Leadbeater MP (which is now at committee stage in the House of Commons) states that anyone who wants to end their life can do so if they are over 18 years old and domiciled in England and Wales, are registered with a GP, have the mental capacity to make the choice to end their own life, and have expressed a clear, settled and informed wish to do so, free from coercion or pressure. That person must be expected to die within six months, have made two separate signed and witnessed declarations about their desire to die, and convinced two independent doctors that they are eligible. A High Court judge would have to rule in favour of the assisted suicide. A patient would then have

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Keystone Law—Milena Szuniewicz-Wenzel & Ian Hopkinson

Keystone Law—Milena Szuniewicz-Wenzel & Ian Hopkinson

International arbitration team strengthened by double partner hire

Coodes Solicitors—Pam Johns, Rachel Pearce & Bradley Kaine

Coodes Solicitors—Pam Johns, Rachel Pearce & Bradley Kaine

Firm celebrates trio holding senior regional law society and junior lawyers division roles

Michelman Robinson—Sukhi Kaler

Michelman Robinson—Sukhi Kaler

Partner joins commercial and business litigation team in London

NEWS
The government has pledged to ‘move fast’ to protect children from harm caused by artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots, and could impose limits on social media as early as the summer
All eyes will be on the Court of Appeal (or its YouTube livestream) next week as it sits to consider the controversial Mazur judgment
An NHS Foundation Trust breached a consultant’s contract by delegating an investigation into his knowledge of nurse Lucy Letby’s case
Draft guidance for schools on how to support gender-questioning pupils provides ‘more clarity’, but headteachers may still need legal advice, an education lawyer has said
Litigation funder Innsworth Capital, which funded behemoth opt-out action Merricks v Mastercard, can bring a judicial review, the High Court ruled last week
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