MPs have voted to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales by a narrow margin of 23 votes in the final reading of the bill in the House of Commons, following five hours of debate.
The draft legislation, which will allow terminally ill adults with six months or less to live to receive medical assistance to end their own lives, was initially backed by MPs in a vote in November. It has since gone through committee and report stages, with MPs debating amendments and voting on proposed changes at its third reading on 20 June.
MPs were given a ‘free vote’ on the bill, meaning they could vote independently rather than follow a party line.
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill passed with 314 votes for and 291 against. This final vote in the House of Commons, meaning that the bill will now proceed to the House of Lords for further scrutiny.
Clinicians and the assisted dying bill
Under the current bill, two doctors would first need to assess the person seeking assisted dying and provide sign-off and the ‘coordinating doctor’ who is overseeing the patient’s end-of-life care provision may be accompanied by ‘other such health professionals’ – including registered nurses, registered medical prescribers, registered pharmacists and registered pharmacy technicians – that they think are needed.
However, no registered medical practitioner or ‘other health professional’ would be under ‘any duty’ to raise assisted dying with patients or to ‘participate in the provision of assistance’ if they do not wish to do so.
Last year, a survey found that nearly half of General Medical Council-registered doctors thought that a physician-assisted dying law ‘would negatively impact the medical profession’.
The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has always maintained a neutral stance on the principle of assisted dying, which it says reflects ‘the range of views across our membership’.
Commenting on the passing of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill at third reading, Dr John Dean, clinical vice president at the RCP said: ‘We believe that several concerns raised by the RCP and others on the bill – including safeguards for vulnerable patients, equitable access to care, clinical responsibilities and the need for complex decisions to be made by multidisciplinary teams, and the potential impact on the doctor-patient relationship – require further consideration. As the bill now heads to the House of Lords, we urge Peers to address these issues to ensure the bill includes robust protections for both patients and healthcare professions.
‘Parliament and the Government must now work closely with the medical profession to ensure that all people, regardless of the choices they may face at the end of life, receive the highest quality care and support.’
