The second reading in the House of Lords for a private members Bill on assisted suicide is set to take place. The Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill proposes to make it legal for doctors to prescribe drugs to a terminally ill person in order for them to take their own life.

The Bill was put forward for consideration by the former human rights lawyer, Lord Joffe, but has been widely criticised by health professionals who have said that the Bill would seriously endanger the rights of the people it is supposed to aid.

Andrea Williams of the Lawyer’s Christian Fellowship has said, “If the law is changed to allow 'assisted dying' it is inevitable that emotional and financial pressures will be brought to bear on vulnerable people. The sick, frail or elderly often feel a burden on relatives, carers and a society short of resources. A law allowing assisted suicide would place them under huge pressure and no amount of safeguards would ever adequately protect the vulnerable.”