Lord Falconers Assisted Dying Bill (2014)

This Bill proposed to allow terminally ill, mentally competent adults to have an assisted death after being approved by two doctors.

Introduced by the former Lord Chancellor and Labour Peer Lord Falconer, the Assisted Dying Bill was first brought to the House of Lords in June 2013. It proposed to allow terminally ill, mentally competent adults to have an assisted death after being approved by two doctors. It was based on the Oregon Death with Dignity Act, which has allowed assisted dying in that State since 1997.

The Bill was debated and passed at Second Reading in the House of Lords in July 2014. Over 120 Peers took part in the almost 10-hour-long debate. Further debates took place in November 2014, when an amendment proposed by Lord Pannick added judicial oversight to the assisted dying process, a proposal that was agreed unanimously in the House of Lords. In January 2015 two opposition amendments to derail the Bill were defeated by large margins. Due to a lack of time with the impending General Election in May 2015, no further progress was made on the Bill.

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