April 24 (UPI) -- A bill to legalize assisted-dying in England and Wales was Friday set to run out of time to complete all the necessary stages for it to become law in the current session of parliament, 10 months after MPs passed the legislation.
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill has been stalled in its committee stage in the House of Lords since June but with Friday set to be the final debate in the upper chamber before the 2024-2026 session ends in early May, it has run out of road.
"Detailed line-by-line scrutiny of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill continues," The Lords said Friday in its order of business for the day.
Members have used up all 14 committee-stage days allotted for the bill as they attempted to grapple with more than 1,000 amendments covering everything from blocking overseas patients from accessing the treatment and the inclusion of people injured serving in the military or in industrial accidents to making patients aware of non-lethal treatment options.
Only around halfway through the stages required before it can receive "Royal Assent" from King Charles and finally become law, the bill can no longer proceed and cannot be carried over to the 2026-2027 session.
