Terminally ill people are one step closer to being able to choose when they die MPs voted in support of the proposed change in the law,

The right to assisted death will be granted to people with a life expectancy of six months or less, provided their request is approved by two doctors and a judge.

This is one of the most important and sensitive topics on which MPs have voted in recent decades – However still need to clear the next round of voting Before it can be implemented.

bbc news two weeks ago Interviewed two terminally ill people about his feelings on the assisted dying bill and we spoke to him again after the vote on Friday afternoon.

Alice Burns, whose cancer causes her to be in constant pain, says, “I’m so happy, I’m so happy.”

“This bill is going to save many unnecessarily painful and horrific deaths – as well as the families and loved ones who would have had to watch them go through this.”

She was watching the debate on assisted dying from the public gallery in the House of Commons after joining the support campaign a few months earlier.

Elise, 50, is terminally ill after breast cancer spread to other parts of her body including her bones – her thigh bone had to be replaced with a metal rod after it was decayed by cancer cells.

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“I’m completely shocked. I was obviously hoping for the best but preparing for the worst,” said Elise, who thought lawmakers might decide against the bill after watching the debate in person. Are.

Nick Ward, who has motor neurone disease and opposes changing the laws on assisted dying, told us: “Obviously I’m a bit disappointed.”

He watched the debate and voting at home.

“But, at the same time, the issue was raised several times (during the debate) that there has been very little improvement in palliative care since the last vote nine years ago.”

Also known as end of life care, this service is for people who are in the last months and years of their lives.

This can be received at home or in a care home, hospice or hospital – depending on the patient’s needs and preferences.

Opponents of the assisted dying bill think This service needs to be better funded If terminally ill people have a real choice between dying naturally or choosing to die earlier.

Nick says, “There has not been much discussion about this and it may be time for a broader review in the coming years before the (assisted dying) bill comes into force.”

The 53-year-old man has been told for the last five years that he is terminally ill and knows that tomorrow he could die of suffocation due to food or his own saliva.

Another concern he has about the passage of the bill is that terminally ill people, who face feelings of dying soon, will choose to end their lives unnecessarily early for what they consider noble reasons. Admit it.

He tells us, “It’s the good people, the people who are trying to be virtuous, who are reputable and trying to do the right thing – those are the people I’m concerned about and think[it]Law) may be problematic for them.” ,

“There will be grandmothers in a care home who don’t want to spend all the money they have in their savings account because they want that money to go to their grandchildren,” he says. “It will be people like him who will want to end their lives.”

He adds: “This is despite the fact that their grandchildren will value the last time they spend with them more than an extra £10,000 or £20,000.

“People will make decisions (life or death) based on internal judgments that are not necessarily accurate because people do not have honest conversations about death.”

He says better communication would help terminally ill people make the most of the time they have left with their loved ones, and so choose not to end their lives early.

Nick goes on and says it was “absolutely educational.”

He adds: “It had become too big and I wish there were more things in it. This is how democracy should work.”

For Elise and his fellow campaigners, on this occasion the democratic system has worked in their favor.

“(Assisted dying) is something I’ve always felt strongly about, even though I didn’t think one day I would need it,” she says. “

This bill probably comes too late for her as she will probably be dead by the time it takes effect.

She is arranging to use the assisted dying service offered by Dignitas in Switzerland before the pain caused by her cancer becomes too much to bear.

Until then she will be spending most of her time with her family and celebrating with fellow campaigners after achieving this latest step in changing the law.

“I am incredibly grateful that I and thousands of others will be given the option to have a good death,” she tells us. “Or shortening a bad one.”

HardTalk – UK assisted dying debate

The UK Parliament is considering proposals to legalize assisted dying. This will bring it at par with many European countries, Canada and several US states. Stephen Sackur talks to actor and disability rights campaigner Liz Carr about whether a focus on the ‘good death’ is undermining the right to a good life?