Lords reject right to die Bill
(Filed: 12/05/2006)

After an impassioned seven-hour debate, the House of Lords has voted to block a bill which would have given terminally ill patients the right to end their lives.

As emotions ran high, the Lords voted to delay the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill for six months by 148 to 100, amid fears that it would be open to abuse.

The Bill would have allowed doctors to prescribe fatal doses of drugs for patients in unbearable pain.

Success for the wrecking amendment came despite a poll which suggested there was public support for the proposed new law.

The Bill, tabled by Lord Joffe, a crossbench peer, had aroused strong opposition from church leaders and the medical profession. the rest