Irish Examiner view: Is assisted dying an idea whose time has come?

Terminal illness debate is far from resolved

Activists from the Campaign for Dignity in Dying outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London..

Many of the arguments presented in the Assisted Dying Bill which passed its second reading in the British House of Lords last week echoed salient points in the Irish debate of the past 12 months.

This summer the Dying with Dignity Bill failed to proceed because the Oireachtas Justice Committee decided it was unfit for purpose. Its sponsor was People Before Profit TD, Gino Kenny, and the proposed legislation sought to make it legal for a medical practitioner to assist a terminally ill person to end their life in a peaceful and dignified manner.