People with physical disabilities and mental ill health would be barred from seeking help to die under plans for a law allowing assisted suicide for the first time.
Under plans unveiled last night only people diagnosed with a terminal illness who have been told they have less than six months to live would be allowed to go through the process of ending their own life.
Supporters of the long-awaited Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill have also revealed that if passed by Parliament, it will be illegal to use dishonesty, coercion or pressure to make someone say they want help dying.
It will also become an offence to force someone to take the lethal dose of medication that is supplied for approved applications, with prison sentences of up to 14 years for those convicted.
Supporters of the proposed new law, which is backed by the TV presenter Esther Rantzen, have been setting out the safeguards that would be put in place ahead of a debate and vote in the Commons at the end of the month.
Kim Leadbeater, the Labour backbencher who is introducing it, warned last night that MPs might have to wait another decade for a law change if they fail to pass it now.
The vote is seen as close, with some senior Cabinet ministers - including Health Secretary Wes Streeting, saying they plan to vote against it.
Critics say the bill is being rushed through without enough scrutiny and does not contain enough safeguards against abuse.
But a former director of public prosecutions today said it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Parliament to act in the public interest.
Kim Leadbeater, the Labour backbencher who is introducing it, warned last night that MPs might have to wait another decade for a law change if they fail to pass it now.
Supporters of the proposed new law, which is backed by the TV presenter Esther Rantzen, have been setting out the safeguards that would be put in place ahead of a debate and vote in the Commons at the end of the month.
Under plans unveiled last night only people diagnosed with a terminal illness who have been told they have less than six months to live would be allowed to go through the process of ending their own life.
Sir Max Hill told a press conference in Westminster the current settlement either leads people to travel to Dignitas in Switzerland if they have money, or for relatives to consider assisting their loved ones to die against the law if they cannot make the journey.
Sir Max said: Those two reasons combine surely to make an unanswerable argument that the law at the moment provides no safeguards, no rails, no guidance and leaves the vulnerable in a pitiful situation.
When I look at the draft Bill that has just been released, it has got safeguards all over it on every page and at every stage.
All I say is that once we get past November 29 and the second reading of this Bill, that provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Parliament, who act in all of our interests, to debate every word, every line and every clause in this Bill.
Only terminally ill people with less than six months to live will be allowed to file for help ending their lives under the Bill published by Ms Leadbeater last night – with disability and mental illness ruled out as eligible criteria.
They will have to make separate clear, settled and informed wishes to die and have their mental capacity assessed by two independent doctors. They will also be told about alternative treatments such as hospice care.
Their application will then be ruled on by a High Court judge who must take evidence from one of the doctors and may also question the dying patient.
The wait between their medical assessment to being allowed to end their life is expected to be three weeks.
Ms Leadbeaters Private Members Bill is set to be voted on by MPs on November 29. She said: I remain ready and willing to answer any questions they may have, because I dont underestimate the seriousness of the issue.
I believe this Bill not only offers protections to people nearing the end of their lives that they dont have at present, but also provides for the strictest safeguards anywhere in the world.
But campaigners have argued it is being rushed through, while growing numbers of MPs have expressed concern about the lack of scrutiny – with even Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood due to vote against it.
Ross Hendry, chief executive of Christian charity CARE, said: MPs need time to digest legislation of any kind, but on a proposal like this – which would have profound implications for our society – two weeks seems too narrow a timeframe.
A campaigner from Dignity in Dying demonstrating outside the Palace of Westminster
Dignity for Dying activists protesting in support of the assisted dying bill at Parliament Square
Campaigners in favour of assisted dying demonstrating outside Parliament in April
Dr Gordon Macdonald, chief executive of Care Not Killing, added: This bill is being rushed with indecent haste and ignores the deep-seated issues in the UKs broken and patchy palliative care system and the crisis in social care.
It ignores data from around the world that shows changing the law would put pressure on vulnerable people to end their lives.
And prominent barrister Alex Ruck Keene, who has worked on a right-to-die case, said he was immensely troubled by the way the legislation is being introduced as a Private Members Bill rather than by the Government.
He said MPs and peers are being radically unsupported because of the lack of detail to explain how assisted dying would work in practice, such as complex decisions on who has the mental capacity to make the decision to end their own lives.
He also fears courts may eventually decide it discriminatory to not expand the six-month life expectancy clause to cover others in pain.