In June 2016, California became the fifth US state, alongside Washington, Oregon, Montana and Vermont, to allow physician-assisted suicide (PAS) when its 2015 End of Life Option Act came into force. In the same month, a bill to legalise and regulate assisted dying was passed in Canada’s Parliament. The legislation makes provisions for professional help for a person suffering with an incurable illness to lawfully end their life.

Saimo Chahal QC (Hon) quoted extensively in article by Tom Bangay for the International Bar Association on developments in Canada and California on assisted dying. She says:

In the UK the debate is fixated on people who are against assisted dying who feel that a law change will infringe their rights- rather than understanding that it is about giving rights to people who currently have none.

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