Euthanasia Law in the UK: Legal and Ethical Considerations

This report provides an overview of the legal status of euthanasia in the United Kingdom. It highlights that both euthanasia and assisted suicide are illegal, as per the UK constitution. The report differentiates between assisted dying and euthanasia, explaining that assisted dying allows individuals to choose their end-of-life decisions while euthanasia involves deliberately ending a life. It discusses voluntary and non-voluntary euthanasia, providing examples of each and mentions the debate surrounding the value of life. The report references data from the Freedom of Information Act and highlights that assisting suicide is a crime in the UK. It also touches upon the number of Britons who have sought assisted suicide in Switzerland and the slow progress towards enacting laws on assisted dying in the UK. The report concludes by mentioning the legal implications of assisting suicide, including potential jail time, and lists the sources used in the research.

DISCUSSION LETTER

TABLE OF CONTENTS
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................2

MAIN BODY
In the United Kingdom, law of euthanasia has no special legal position. It is an act of
deliberately ending a life of person. According to the constitution of UK both euthanasia and
assisted suicide are illegal (Shekhawat and et.al., 2017). There are some basic differences in
between assisted dying and euthanasia suicide as in the law of assisted dying gives permission
which allow human to die as their own wish while in euthanasia is deliberately killing someone
for some reasons. The law of euthanasia is not good as no one has the right to kill anybody.
There are mainly two types of euthanasia which are voluntary euthanasia and non-voluntary
euthanasia. In voluntary euthanasia, person makes decision of dying and he needs help whereas,
in non-voluntary euthanasia, person is unable to give his/her consent to treatment. For example:
when a person reaches at the last stage of coma, in that situation, another person takes decision
on his own behalf like member of family.
There are many people who think that this law violated the value of life of human being
but many people like doctors said that there are some conditions arise when it is necessary to kill
the person. As per the data of Freedom of Information Act, there is 7% of people die with their
own wish because of no hope of recovery. This law allows doctor to kill the patients by the
request of family member or patients himself (Paterson, 2017). Doctors or any other person who
is going to kill anybody, must take suggestion for doing this. The law of euthanasia shows weak
and poor society.
Assisting Suicide is crime in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and there is 14 years
of jail if any person done assisting suicide. It was find from the record that about 350 Britons has
done assisting suicide in Switzerland. In UK is nit moving great speed towards enacting the law
of assisted dying.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Shekhawat, R.S and et.al,, 2017. Euthanasia: Global Scenario and Its Status in India. Science and
engineering ethics, pp.1-12.
Paterson, C., 2017. Assisted suicide and euthanasia: a natural law ethics approach. Routledge.
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