The Long Debate on Assisted Dying
The issue of assisted dying was first put before Parliament in 1936. Many of the same questions remain, but the arguments have changed.
By the time Dr Charles Killick Millard rose to deliver his inaugural presidential address to the Society of Medical Officers of Health on 16 October 1931, discussion of its contents had already begun in the press. Millard’s speech, which was a call for the legalisation of euthanasia for consenting incurable patients, sparked both controversy and widespread support, and marked a breakthrough moment for ideas which had been debated in philosophical circles since the late 19th century. Four years later, encouraged by the response to the speech, Millard founded the Voluntary Euthanasia Legalisation Society (VELS) as a campaigning movement for euthanasia in Britain.
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