Assisted dying Bill squeaks through

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which passed its third reading by a majority of just 23 MPs last week, now moves to the House of Lords for review. It gives adults in England and Wales the right to request an assisted death as long as two doctors agree they have less than six months to live.

Amendments to the Bill have transferred the role of approving each request from a High Court judge to a panel comprising a psychiatrist, social worker and a senior lawyer. Further amendments clarified that health workers can opt out, and mandated a government review of palliative care services within a year of the Bill becoming law.

Alexa Payet, partner at Michelmores, said: ‘If the Bill becomes law, it is likely that people will continue to seek an assisted death at clinics in other jurisdictions because the majority of people will not qualify under the terms of the Bill (and perhaps even because it would be quicker and less complicated for them to do so).

‘In those circumstances, anyone who assists the suicide of another will continue to face the threat of prosecution and they could be prevented from benefiting from the suicide's estate, jointly owned assets, and pensions. It is unclear whether those who assist a suicide outside of the terms of the Bill would be more likely to face prosecution.’

Payet said she expects the Director of Public Prosecutions to update its policy and guidance ‘in this new and unknown territory’ if assisted dying is legalised.

The Bill remains highly controversial, with some warning the safeguards are inadequate, while others welcome the choice granted to terminally ill people but feel the Bill is too limited.

Writing in NLJ (2 May, pp9-10), former chief coroner Thomas Teague KC expressed concern that the Bill excludes assisted deaths from coronial oversight, thus losing a ‘robust deterrent’ against the ‘risk of malpractice or coercion, whether on the part of medical professionals, family members or others’.