A document being prepared by the Government could enable every adult to demand the right to die by ticking a box.
The Department for Constitutional Affairs is consulting on the exact wording of a ten-page form that will allow people with degenerative diseases to refuse hospital treatment.
One proposal is that patients are invited to tick “yes” or “no” to the statement: “I wish to give my attorney(s) authority to give or refuse consent to life-sustaining treatment on my behalf.”
The document is part of the Mental Capacity Bill, which comes into force next year. At present, a doctor decides when to give or withdraw treatment, including “life sustaining” treatment, but under the proposals such decisions could be passed to a family member or friend by signing over a “lasting power of attorney”.
Critics of the scheme say that it would offer euthanasia “through the back door”.