UK lawmakers amended a contentious assisted dying bill on Friday to allow health workers to opt out of helping someone end their life.
The change was approved following nearly five hours of impassioned debate on the proposed legislation, which could see Britain become the latest European country to legalise euthanasia.
The amendment would ensure that "no person", including any medical professional, would be obliged to be part of the euthanasia process.
It was proposed by the legislation's sponsor, Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, to try to assuage fears among some health professionals that they could be forced to help someone end their life.
Doctors already had an opt-out, but the new clause extends that to anyone, including pharmacists and social care workers.
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill passed its first stage of a lengthy parliamentary process in November when MPs voted by 330 to 275 in support of legalising euthanasia.
MPs have since been considering several changes, which were debated on Friday.
Leadbeater opened the discussion by saying that many people have "lost loved ones in deeply difficult and traumatic circumstances".
"Put simply, if we do not vote to change the law, we are essentially saying that the status quo is acceptable," she said as pro- and anti-euthanasia campaigners demonstrated outside parliament.
Conservative MP Rebecca Paul, who opposes the bill, told parliament she feared it would give people too much "autonomy" to end their life.
"We have moved from a proposal to provide a humane end to someone's pain when it can't be relieved in the last months of their life to providing an assisted death service to those who choose it for any reason, even if the pain can be alleviated by palliative care," she said.
Leadbeater's bill would allow assisted suicide in England and Wales for adults who have a life expectancy of fewer than six months and are able to take the substance that causes their death themselves.
Any patient's wish to die would have to be signed off by two doctors and a panel of experts.
MPs will consider further amendments to the bill on June 13.
Only once those are dealt with, can the proposed legislation progress to the next stage when MPs will get to vote on whether to send it to the House of Lords upper chamber for further scrutiny or reject it entirely.
If the legislation is ultimately passed then a change in the law is still expected to be several years away.
Assisted suicide currently carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
On Tuesday, separate legislation to legalise assisted dying in Scotland, which has a separate legal system and devolved health powers, passed its first vote in the Scottish parliament.