Explore the UK assisted dying debate, including the Terminally Ill Adults Bill, parliamentary progress, and landmark court cases shaping end-of-life law
Assisted dying in the UK remains one of the most debated and closely watched legal and ethical issues. With the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill progressing through Parliament, this article examines the history of assisted dying legislation, current parliamentary debate, and major legal cases shaping end-of-life law today.
What is the Assisted Dying Bill and what does it aim to do in the UK?
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill aims to legalise assisted dying for terminally ill, mentally competent adults, who have six months to live or less. The Bill includes safety measures for protection, including:
- Eligibility: The Bill extends the option of assisted dying to terminally ill adults with mental capacity if they are expected to die within six months. The Bill specifically excludes people with disabilities or mental illness alone if they are not terminally ill. Clear mental capacity is required throughout the process, which will be assessed by medical, legal, and care professionals on five or more occasions.
- Protections: All requests must be made on the basis of a clear, settled, and informed decision by the person concerned. All alternative options must be discussed, and the decision must be confirmed at every stage.
- Medical supervision: Two doctors must independently confirm that the individual meets the eligibility criteria, and an independent specialist must be consulted if there is any doubt about the person’s mental capacity or if the doctor lacks expertise in the terminal illness concerned.
- Expert oversight: A multidisciplinary panel consisting of a senior lawyer, psychiatrist, and social worker oversees the process.
- Periods of reflection: There must be at least 7 days between the two medical assessments, and a further 14 days after the expert panel’s decision.
- Safety: Strict protocols will ensure the safe prescribing, transportation, and administration of all medication. The process must be overseen by a trained medical practitioner who will be expressly forbidden from taking any action to end the person’s life.
- Monitoring: The application of the law will be very closely monitored, with details of every assisted death collected and published annually.
- New offences: The Bill creates new offences making it illegal, by dishonesty, coercion, or pressure, to induce a person to make a declaration requesting assistance or to self-administer a medication.
How is the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill progressing through Parliament?
As of February 2026, the Bill is under review in the House of Lords. It had passed the Commons and entered the Lords’ committee stage, where peers are examining it line by line and debating many amendments.
This detailed review is causing delays. The bill cannot move to the next stage until the committee finishes its work. The law’s future depends on how the Lords resolve proposed changes.
Over 1,100 amendments have been laid to the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which is the highest number at this stage in recent parliamentary history.
Key amendments proposed by opponents to the Bill included, for example, a requirement that anyone requesting an assisted death provide a negative pregnancy test—regardless of the applicant’s age or sex. Another proposed amendment would mandate that every assisted death be filmed, which constitutes a significant invasion of the privacy of dying people and their loved ones.
Landmark legal cases in the UK
Diane Pretty
In 2001, Diane Pretty, a motor neurone disease sufferer, sought government assurance that her husband would not be prosecuted if he helped her end her life. She needed assistance due to her condition.
The House of Lords denied that the right to life permitted assisted dying or deciding when to die.
Following this rejection, Diane took her case to the European Court of Human Rights, arguing that the right to life includes a right to choose whether to live or not. The court disagreed, stating that the right to life was not determined by the quality of life, so it could not be interpreted as also giving a right to die. Her appeal to the court. Diane Pretty lost her case and later died from complications.
Tony Nicklinson
Tony Nicklinson, paralysed from the neck down after a stroke, asked the High Court to declare assisted dying lawful or rule existing law incompatible with his rights. Without help.
He asked the High Court to declare it lawful for a doctor to help him end his life, or, if not, to rule the current law incompatible with his human rights. The court refused both requests. Tony Nicklinson then refused food and water and died of pneumonia shortly after.
Myra Morris
Myra Morris, who had multiple system atrophy, travelled to Switzerland for assisted suicide with her husband and children. Because her husband assisted, he risked losing his inheritance under UK law. He went to court to fight for his claim to her estate. The court found Myra had capacity and allowed her husband and children to inherit as she wished.
