Press Release – A New Anscombe Centre Paper Critiques the Assisted Dying Bill & its Implications for Vulnerable Patients

As the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill receives its Report Stage debate today, the Anscombe Centre has published a paper by experienced Barrister James Bogle, which provides legal analysis of the Bill and its purported safeguards, finding that the Bill fails to provide adequate protections in law for patients most vulnerable to undue pressure and abuse. More such papers will be issued next week. 

The House of Commons will debate amendments which have the opportunity to either make the Bill more permissive or more restrictive. The Bill's Third Reading, where it could be passed on to the House of Lords, or else defeated entirely, is now expected on the next available for Private Members’ Bill debates, Friday 13 June, or else Friday 20 June if more time is needed and given to consider Amendments.

Professor David Albert Jones said:

‘Having had a deep debate and much time to examine this Bill, the time has come for Parliamentarians to discern whether the deficits of this Bill – as with assisted suicide as a practice more broadly, as the Anscombe Centre’s research has shown – are truly acceptable for a society which values human equality and safeguarding of the most vulnerable. We call on them to attend to the evidence, and in being so informed, vote confidently to reject this dangerous Bill’.

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Notes to Editors:

• Any part of the above can be quoted as coming from our Director, Professor David Albert Jones.
• For more information, please see the Centre’s full Guide on ‘Assisted Dying’ (euthanasia and assisted suicide) which includes a guide to the latest evidence concerning EAS internationally, the Centre’s series of briefing papers on EAS since 2021 of which the above paper is the latest, and videos on subjects relating to EAS.
• If the issues discussed here affect you or someone close to you, you can call Samaritans on 116 123 (UK and ROI), visit their website or contact them on: jo@samaritans.org
• If you are reporting or writing about a case of death by suicide, whether assisted or non-assisted, please consult the Samaritans’ media guidelines on how to do so responsibly.
• For more information on the Anscombe Bioethics Centre, see our website: www.bioethics.org.uk
• For interviews or comment, contact: media@bioethics.org.uk