‘Prognosis is not an exact science’: NHS doctors consider practicalities of assisted dying

Questions raised over potential eligibility, while body representing palliative care staff opposes law change

Proposals to give terminally ill people in England and Wales the right to choose to end their life will be considered by MPs this month. While the public debate about moral arguments, doctors are considering the practical reality of assisted dying, as a historic change to the law appears an increasingly likely prospect.

As public opinion on the issue has shifted in the past decade, so too has the medical perspective. In 2021 the British Medical Association voted in favour of changing its position on assisted dying from opposition to a change in the law to neutrality. Many doctors are swayed by the argument that patients should have freedom over their own bodies, including how they die when they are terminally ill. Others have ethical and pragmatic concerns or worry about how assisted dying could affect access to palliative care at a time when health inequalities are already rife.