MANY people in our community will have mixed emotions set apart by relief, hope, fear, worry and confusion at MPs backing proposals to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales which now paves the way for a future change in the law.

The assisted dying debate was characterised by respectful but albeit profound emotional disagreement that cut across party lines and has touched upon all of our lives.

I’d like to reach out to all members of our community to empower you with information on what this means.

The Terminally Ill Adults Bill, more commonly referred to as the ‘End of Life Bill’, proposes giving terminally-ill people the right to choose to end their life.

It states that anyone who wants to end their life must fulfil set criteria.

These include being aged over 18 years, residing in England and Wales and being registered with a GP for at least a year.

Their life expectancy must be under six months due to terminal illness.

They must have the mental capacity to make the choice to end their life which means having the ability to make an informed decision based on understanding a situation, the options available and the consequences of the decision free from coercion.

They must make two separate declarations, witnessed and signed, about their wish to die and they would need to satisfy two independent doctors that they are eligible with at least seven days between each assessment.

A High Court judge would have to rule each time a person makes a request to end their life and must hear from one or both doctors and can also ask questions of the dying person before making a ruling.

The main argument in favour of legalising assisted dying is to give people who are suffering from terminal illness the choice and autonomy to die in a more dignified and comfortable manner than current systems allow.

The current best option for terminally-ill patients is to rely upon palliative medicine — the aim of which is to help very sick people to be as comfortable as possible towards the end of their lives without hastening nor postponing their death.

Assisted dying is already legal in several countries across the world with Switzerland the first nation to introduce the right as far back as 1942.

Other European countries that allow assisted dying include Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Spain, Austria and Portugal.

Assisted dying is also legal in 10 jurisdictions in the USA.

It was less than a decade ago in 2015 that MPs voted overwhelmingly against assisted dying.

Times and societal views have significantly changed since then, however, this is just the beginning and not the end of the debate on assisted dying.

The result means the legislation will now progress to the committee stage for scrutiny with the House of Lords given the opportunity to express their views on the measure before it potentially becomes law, however, the reality is that there would a period of up to two years before any new law is potentially implemented.

Understanding that your doctor will reflect upon the four key principles of medical ethics to best support you as their patient is important.

These principles include autonomy which is respecting a patient’s right to self determination, beneficence which is the duty to ‘do good’, non-Maleficence which is the duty not to cause harm and justice, namely, treating all patients equally and equitably.

It is currently illegal to assist someone in the act of killing themselves — a person commits an offence under section 2 of the Suicide Act 1961 if he or she does an act capable of encouraging or assisting the suicide or attempted suicide of another person and that act was intended to encourage or assist suicide or an attempt at suicide.

Opponents to the Assisted Dying Bill warn that people could be put under pressure to end their lives.

Primarily, people are concerned that legalising assisted dying opens up new possibilities for abuse and exploitation of sick and elderly people who are some of the most vulnerable in our society and want improvements to palliative care instead.

The three main forms of palliative care are symptom management, emotional support and spiritual care.

NHS England is already taking an ambitious and transformative approach to support the delivery of sustainable, responsive and personalised end-of-life care for all.

This is being delivered within a robust national governance framework that is reflected at a regional level via specialist Strategic Clinical Networks.

Our county has an excellent palliative care service and provides advice and support for patients with terminal illnesses as well as for their families and carers.

This service is offered seven days a week with specialist nurses available to help patients with complex needs or uncontrolled symptoms.

Specialist palliative care teams are based at the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch and Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

Additionally, your GP and St Richard’s Hospice can also support you.

Our columnist Dr Jason Seewoodhary is a former Worcester GP.