Manx assisted suicide Bill stalls over human rights concerns

Royal Assent has been withheld for a Bill to legalise assisted suicide on the Isle of Man over concerns about safeguards.

Justice Secretary David Lammy told the Manx Government that MHK Alex Allinson’s Private Member’s Bill lacked “the necessary protections” to be compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights.

Last year, the Tynwald voted through proposals to allow terminally ill residents to be given lethal drugs to end their own lives.

Unsafe

The Isle of Man Government said the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) had been in contact seeking clarity on “the independent monitoring of assisted deaths; safeguards against coercion; and ensuring that individuals have the capacity to make informed decisions” regarding assisted suicide.

Responding to the British Government’s decision to withhold Royal Assent, Allinson said: “I will be working with all Tynwald Members over the coming weeks to bring forward a series of amendments to the Bill”.

But the Isle of Man Medical Society welcomed the announcement and expressed gratitude “for the intervention, which reflects the gravity of the concerns the medical community has consistently raised”.

The group told the BBC that it “maintained that this Bill represented a fundamental shift in the doctor-patient relationship” and the MoJ’s assessment reinforced its professional stance.

Retired GP Graham McAll, a member of Manx Duty of Care – an informal group of health and social care workers opposed to assisted suicide and euthanasia – said Westminster’s response “shows the vulnerable are not adequately protected from coercion in our Bill”.

Care and hope

In 2025, The Christian Institute described the Tynwald’s decision to press ahead with assisted suicide — despite the increasing spotlight on the dangers it poses to individuals and society — as a tragedy.

At the time, the Institute’s Head of Policy and Research David Greatorex commented: “Instead of causing more vulnerable people to question if they are better off dead, we should be caring and trying to provide hope to all in their darkest moments.”