A report by a committee of MSPs said that a Bill to legalize assisted suicide should be thrown out.
Source: Stage 1 Report on the End of Life Assistance (Scotland) Bill, 1st Report 2010, SP Paper 523, Scottish Parliament End of Life Assistance (Scotland) Bill Committee
Links: Report | Scottish Parliament press release | Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Policy memorandum | Christian Institute report | BBC report
Date: 2010-Nov
A think-tank report said that legalizing assisted suicide would risk having a 'strident elite' condemning the less fortunate to a premature death – because it was 'the marginalized, the disabled, the less articulate and the poor' who were most likely to be under pressure to accelerate their death.
Source: Cristina Odone, Assisted Suicide: How the chattering classes have got it wrong, Centre for Policy Studies
Links: Report | CPS press release | BHA press release | Telegraph report | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Oct
An article examined the main provisions of the Human Fertilization and Embryology Act 2008 insofar as they related to individuals seeking treatment.
Source: Rachel Fenton, Susan Heenan and Jane Rees, 'Finally fit for purpose? The Human Fertilization and Embryology Act 2008', Journal of Social Welfare & Family Law, Volume 32 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Oct
A new book examined the extent to which parents should be allowed to use reproductive technologies to determine the characteristics of their future children.
Source: Stephen Wilkinson, Choosing Tomorrow's Children: The ethics of selective reproduction, Oxford University Press
Links: Summary | PCF press release
Date: 2010-Jul
The new coalition government announced plans (following a review) to reduce the number of arm's-length bodies in the National Health Service. The Health Protection Agency, together with the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse, would be abolished and their functions transferred to the Secretary of State as part of a new 'Public Health Service'. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority would be abolished, and its functions transferred to other bodies. The work of the General Social Care Council in regulating social workers in England would be transferred to the Health Professions Council.
Source: Liberating the NHS: Report of the Arms-Length Bodies Review, Department of Health
Links: Report | DH press release | ADASS/ADCS press release | CQC press release | CWDC press release | DrugScope press release | HFEA press release | HPC press release | NTA press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Personnel Today report | Community Care report | Children & Young People Now report | Christian Institute report
Date: 2010-Jul
The Crown Prosecution Service published (following consultation) a policy statement on prosecutions in cases of assisted suicide. It set out 16 public interest factors to be considered, including whether the 'victim' had reached a 'voluntary, clear, settled and informed' decision to commit suicide.
Source: Policy for Prosecutors in Respect of Cases of Encouraging or Assisting Suicide, Crown Prosecution Service
Links: Policy statement | CPS press release | Consultation responses | CofE press release | SPUC press release | BBC report | Community Care report | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Feb
