The Why Factor: Assisted Death

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Is it ever right to take a life? Mike Williams explores the ethical dilemmas of assisting death. In a few countries, terminally-ill people suffering pain and distress are allowed to get help from friends, family and physicians to bring their lives to an end. In many countries, it is a crime. Helping someone to kill themselves is illegal in the UK but there are attempts to get the law revised. The rules are most liberal in Belgium where recently a 17-year-old boy became the first minor to be granted help with dying. And, in the United States, California has become the fifth state to approve what they’ve called “physician assisted death”. (Photo: Woman touching elderly man's hand. Credit: Arman Zhenikeyev/Shutterstock)