|
More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
|
Exit
|
|
(London W8) The name commonly used for the Voluntary Euthanasia Society, formed in 1935 by a group of doctors. Their purpose was to campaign for a change in the law so that doctors could legally help terminally ill patients who wanted to die. In 1961 suicide ceased to be illegal in Britain, but giving assistance to anyone committing suicide remains a criminal offence. The society distributes a 'living will', increasingly accepted by the medical profession, by which people can record in advance that in certain circumstances they do not wish to be artificially kept alive. Exit was the first of its kind, but there are now some 30 right-to-die societies around the world. The issue of euthanasia acquired a new topicality in Britain in 1992 when a jury convicted a doctor, Nigel Cox, of attempted murder. He had given a lethal injection to a terminally ill patient, in extreme pain, who had begged him to do so. Dr Cox was given a suspended sentence and was allowed by the General Medical Council to continue in medical practice. See also *Hillsborough.
|
|
|
|