Date: Friday 13th June 2025
Release time: Immediate
Responding to the end of the Report Stage of the assisted dying bill, Dr Gordon Macdonald, CEO of Care Not Killing welcomed the first Commons defeat, which saw MPs reject Kim Leadbeater’s proposal to allow doctors to raise assisted suicide “unprompted” with under 18s.
He commented: “It appears that the assisted dying bill has lost momentum with MPs increasingly turning against this poorly drafted and extremely dangerous piece of proposed legislation. We welcome MPs removing the ability of doctors to raise unprompted assisted suicide with children, but there are many other areas of the bill that are deeply flawed.
“The removal of important safeguards designed to protect vulnerable and disabled people, including the role of the High Court to scrutinise and vet each application, failure to protect those with eating disorders such as anorexia from accessing an assisted death instead of treatment, and the ludicrous refusal by supporters of the bill to give hospices and care homes an opt-out, makes a complete mockery of claims that this law would be the ‘safest in the world’.
“This bill, whether by design or coincidence now more than ever resembles the US State of Oregon. Here a majority of those ending their lives cite the fear of being a burden on their families, carers or finances as a reason, while detailed psychiatric assessment almost never takes place. One of the reasons why the Royal College of Psychiatrists, opposes this bill. As they pointed out there is an acute problem with accurately assessing the capacity of those with suicidal thoughts, especially at a time when the sector is in crisis with too few mental health professionals and waiting lists for access already running into many months.”
He continued: “It’s not only the Royal College of Psychiatrists which opposes this bill, both the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of GPs have also raised their concerns, while thousands of doctors of ordinary doctors, many working in end-of-life care have joined them.
“At a time when we have seen how fragile our health care system is, how the hospice movement faces unprecedented financial and staffing pressures, and when up to one in four Brits who would benefit from palliative care aren’t able to access it, this should be the focus of MPs attention. We need much better care not killing.”
