The organisation declares it is independent of any political, religious or other affiliations, and has the stated primary aim of campaigning for individuals to have greater choice and more control over end-of-life decisions, so as to alleviate any suffering they may be undergoing as they near the end of their life.

Dignity in Dying campaigns for the greater choice, control and access to a full range of medical and palliative services at the end-of-life, including providing terminally ill adults with the option of a painless, assisted death, within strict legal safeguards.

In the address, he advocated the "Legalisation of Voluntary Euthanasia", which prompted considerable debate in Britain involving doctors, clerics and the wider public.

Millard's proposal was that in the case of terminal illnesses the law should be changed "to substitute for the slow and painful death a quick and painless one".

Early supporters included Henry Havelock Ellis, Vera Brittain, Cicely Hamilton, Laurence Housman, H. G. Wells, Harold Laski, George Bernard Shaw, Eleanor Rathbone MP, G. M. Trevelyan, W. Arbuthnot Lane, and a variety of peers including Lord Woolton of Liverpool (Conservative) and Lord Moynihan who had been the president of the Royal College of Surgeons.

[4] Prominent people who supported the society during the 1960s included the legal academic and president of the Law Reform Association Glanville Williams.

His proposal would have allowed a physician to put as a defence to a homicide, assault or bodily harm charge that the person was incurably and fatally ill if the doctor was acting in good faith.

[4] The next legislative attempt was started in 1967 with a bill drafted by Mary Rose Barrington, a member of the executive committee of the Euthanasia Society and barrister.

[9] During the period it was known as 'Exit', the secretary of the society, Nicholas Reed, was convicted of conspiracy to variously aid and abet or counsel a number of suicides.

"[12] In 1990, the group campaigned for the early release of Anthony Cocker, who was convicted of murder after killing his wife Esther after she begged him to end her suffering from multiple sclerosis.

[13] In 1992, the society supported Dr Nigel Cox, who was prosecuted and convicted for murder for shortening the life of a patient at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital.

Other patrons include prominent individuals from the worlds of business, politics, the arts and religion, such as Terry Pratchett, Jonathan Miller, Patricia Hewitt, Zoë Wanamaker, Simon Weston, Anthony Grayling and Matthew Wright.

In 2015 Labour MP Rob Marris introduced an Assisted Dying Bill, based on the Falconer proposals, into the House of Commons.

The Bill was praised by Philip Collins, chief leader writer for The Times as "a sophisticated and humane attempt" to clarify the law before the courts do so and which unlike religion "will actually ease suffering."

It also campaigns for new legislation to permit assisted dying within strict safeguards, and promotes the concept and use of advance decisions in England and Wales.

Dignity in Dying also state that their proposals would alleviate a great deal of the stress and worry that approaching death can bring to a person, particularly one suffering significant pain from a terminal illness.

The use of Advance Decisions can help significantly but they also believe that if a right to an Assisted Death is available then the very knowledge of this fact can alleviate many of the worries an individual might have.

Dignity in Dying supporters argue that the recent trends towards the use of the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland and press stories regarding botched suicides and do-it-yourself advice would be stopped because individuals would know that when and if they wished to finally request an assisted death in the UK, it would be available as arranged.

Some people of a religious persuasion take the view that all life is sacred and that only natural processes and divine intervention should determine a person's death.

Meanwhile, opponents argue that the introduction of the sort of legislation supported by Dignity in Dying can be a "slippery slope"[This quote needs a citation] towards more draconian measures.

Organisations such as My Death My Decision and Humanists UK argue that assisted dying legislation should not be limited to those with less than six months to live, but should be available to all mentally competent adults who are suffering unbearably and incurably, irrespective of their projected lifespan.

[37][38] These sentiments appeared to be echoed by Supreme Court justice Lord Neuberger in the judgement of R (Nicklinson) v Ministry of Justice in 2013, when he said "Quite apart from the notorious difficulty in assessing life expectancy even for the terminally ill, there seems to me to be significantly more justification in assisting people to die if they have the prospect of living for many years a life that they regarded as valueless, miserable and often painful, than if they have only a few months left to live".