💉 Medicine and pain relief
Doctors and nurses can treat many symptoms and control pain. Giving enough pain relief to keep a dying person comfortable is accepted by almost everyone.
Life and Death: Key Ideas » Euthanasia, Assisted Dying and the Law
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Edexcel spec: Paper 1, 2.3
- Why relieving suffering matters to religious and non-religious people
- What euthanasia is, and the different types
- What the law says in the United Kingdom, and in one other country
- Why people hold different attitudes to euthanasia
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Unlock This CourseRelieving suffering
Almost everyone agrees that suffering is bad and that we should try to ease it. This lesson looks at what happens when a person is dying or has a very serious illness, and at one of the hardest questions that follows. The topic is sensitive, so we keep to calm facts and the reasons people give.
Key terms:
- Compassion: caring about someone's suffering and wanting to help.
- Palliative care: care that eases pain and other symptoms when an illness cannot be cured, and supports the whole person.
- Hospice: a place or service that gives palliative care to people who are dying, and support to their families.
- Euthanasia: from a Greek word meaning 'a gentle death'. The deliberate ending of a life to relieve suffering.
- Voluntary euthanasia: the person asks for it themselves.
- Non-voluntary euthanasia: the person cannot give an opinion (for example, they are in a deep coma) and someone else decides.
- Involuntary euthanasia: carried out against the person's wishes. This is murder in law.
- Assisted suicide (assisted dying): helping a person to end their own life, at their request.
Many religions teach that people should show compassion and care for the sick, the old and the dying. Non-religious people, including humanists, agree that relieving suffering matters, because they believe this life is the only one we have and it should be as free from pain as possible.
🏥 The hospice movement
Modern hospices grew from the work of Dame Cicely Saunders, who opened St Christopher's Hospice in London in 1967. Hospices care for the whole person: body, feelings and family. Many were set up by religious groups, and many today are charities.
What is euthanasia?
Euthanasia is different from good palliative care. Its aim is to end life, not to ease symptoms while life takes its natural course. Two more pairs of ideas help to sort out cases:
- Active euthanasia: doing something that brings about a death.
- Passive euthanasia: allowing a death by not starting, or by stopping, a treatment that is keeping someone alive.
Two other situations are often mixed up with euthanasia:
- Refusing treatment: a patient with capacity (able to understand and make the decision) may say no to a treatment. The law in the UK allows this.
- Withdrawing treatment: doctors may stop a treatment that is no longer helping the patient, if it is in the patient's best interests. Many people see this as different from killing, because the illness, not the doctor, causes the death. Others are not so sure, which is why the idea of passive euthanasia is debated.
The law
Laws on euthanasia differ from country to country. Here is the position in the United Kingdom.
⚖️ England and Wales
Euthanasia is illegal. Under the Suicide Act 1961, it is an offence to help someone to end their life, even if they ask and are terminally ill (expected to die from their illness). Voluntary euthanasia can be treated as murder or manslaughter (killing without planning to murder).
🏛️ Scotland and Northern Ireland
Both also prohibit euthanasia and assisting a death, though through different laws.
Should the law change? Parliaments have debated it recently. At Westminster, a bill to allow assisted dying for terminally ill adults passed the House of Commons in 2025, but it did not finish in the House of Lords before the parliamentary session ended in April 2026, so it fell. A new bill was introduced, but MPs voted against it at its second reading (the first main vote on a bill) on 11 September 2026. In Scotland, MSPs voted against a similar bill at its final stage in March 2026. So the law in the UK has not changed. Laws and proposals can change again, so check parliament.uk or gov.uk for the latest position.
Other countries do allow it. In the Netherlands, a law that came into force in 2002 allows doctors to carry out euthanasia or assisted suicide if strict conditions are met, including that the patient's suffering is unbearable and with no prospect of improvement.
Different attitudes to euthanasia
🚫 Against: sanctity of life
Many religious people teach that life is sacred, a gift from God, so only God should decide when it ends. Some also fear a slippery slope: if voluntary euthanasia is allowed, the rules might slowly widen until vulnerable people feel pressure to die.
💚 For: dignity and compassion
Some people argue that it is kind to let a person who is suffering greatly end their life. They stress quality of life, autonomy (the right to choose) and dignity.
🔒 Choice with safeguards
Many humanists support the right to choose, but only with strict safeguards, such as checks by doctors that the decision is free and well informed.
Opinion does not split neatly into religious and non-religious. Some religious people support assisted dying, because they stress compassion. Some non-religious people oppose it, because they worry that disabled or vulnerable people could be pressured or put at risk. Many people also say that better palliative care would reduce the number of people who ask for it.
If any of these issues upsets you, talk to a trusted adult. You can also call Childline on 0800 1111 or the Samaritans on 116 123.
Common mistakes
- Saying that euthanasia is legal in the UK. It is not, and assisting a suicide is an offence in England and Wales.
- Mixing up palliative care (easing symptoms) with euthanasia (ending life).
- Saying that all religious people are against and all non-religious people are for. There are many exceptions.
- Describing a view without a reason. Marks go for explaining why.
Exam-style question
Paper 1, AO1 and AO2.
(a) Identify three types of euthanasia. [3 marks]
Model answer (a)
1. Voluntary euthanasia (1) 2. Non-voluntary euthanasia (1) 3. Involuntary euthanasia (1)
(b) Outline two reasons why some people support euthanasia. [4 marks]
Model answer (b)
Some people support it out of compassion (1), because they think it is kind to end the suffering of someone who is dying in great pain (1). Others support it because of autonomy (1), which means people should be free to make choices about their own lives and deaths (1).
(c) Explain why there are different attitudes to euthanasia. [6 marks]
Model answer (c)
Many religious people believe in the sanctity of life, so they think only God should end life, and they oppose euthanasia (2). Other people stress quality of life and dignity, so they think a person in unbearable suffering should be allowed to choose a gentle death (2). Some also worry about a slippery slope, where safeguards weaken and vulnerable people feel pressured, while others say strict safeguards can prevent this (2). Opinion also varies inside religion and outside it, so there is no single religious or non-religious view.
(d) 'Euthanasia should be legal.' Evaluate this statement, showing you have considered different points of view. In your answer you should refer to at least one religion. [12 marks]
Plan for (d)
For: compassion and dignity; autonomy over your own death; safeguards could protect people; some countries, such as the Netherlands, already allow it. Against: life is sacred and a gift (add a teaching from your own religion here); the slippery slope; risks to disabled and vulnerable people; better palliative care may be the answer. Possible conclusion: weigh which matters most, the right to choose or the duty to protect life, and say why. A strong answer might say that choice matters, but that without very strong safeguards the risk to vulnerable people is too high.
Exam tip
In the 12-mark question, name who holds each view (for example 'a humanist might say...') and use the word 'should' from the statement in your conclusion.