If you are a health care professional in the UK, you can add your name below the letter
We write as health care professionals with great concern regarding the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill. Assisting suicide is not health care.
A fundamental principle of palliative care is ‘neither to hasten nor to postpone death’. Doctor-assisted suicide runs roughshod over the current suicide prevention strategies at the heart of mental health care in the UK. The NHS is broken, with health and social care in disarray. Palliative care is woefully underfunded and many lack access to specialist provision. The idea of doctor-assisted suicide being introduced and managed safely at such a time is remarkably out of touch with the gravity of the current mental health crisis and pressures on staff.
At second reading, we were told that flaws in the current legislation would be dealt with at committee stage. This has not been the case. Oral evidence to the public bill committee was heavily biased. The composition of the committee was weighted in favour of those supporting the legislation, and most votes divided purely on ideological lines. Judicial review by the High Court was abandoned within weeks of the vote and replaced by a panel which may meet in private, may hear only from one doctor, and which does not have to ask questions. Patients may be eligible if they are depressed or suicidal, feel like a burden to others, or refusing treatment. There is no requirement that patients should be seen by a specialist in their condition or by a palliative care specialist. Any doctor can raise the issue of assisted dying, even with those with learning disabilities or autism. Families may not be notified until after a death and have no route to raise concerns about coercion or abuse. Significant powers have been delegated to the Secretary of State without future scrutiny by Parliament.
Canada has clearly demonstrated that “safeguards” can be eroded in a matter of just five years; it was roundly criticised by the UN last month (March 2025) for introducing euthanasia for those who are disabled,[1] and extension to mentally ill people, already passed into law, has been paused because of healthcare professionals’ concern.
Legalisation of assisted suicide would fundamentally alter the relationship between doctors and patients at the end of life, and create a coercive perception that society expects people with terminal illness to consider ending their lives. In Oregon in 2024, 42% of those who chose assisted suicide cited ‘feeling a burden on caregivers.’ [2]
As healthcare professionals, we have a legal duty of care for the safety and wellbeing of our patients. We urge you to vote against this bill and instead fund comprehensive, accessible palliative care and psychological support for all.
Yours sincerely,
Director, Our Duty of Care
Our duty of care is a group of UK healthcare workers who oppose the intentional killing of patients by assisted suicide or euthanasia.
The campaign is administered by David Randall, a consultant nephrologist working in London, and Gillian Wright, a former palliative care doctor based in Scotland.
It is supported by a wide range of healthcare professionals, and has campaigned during the membership polls run by the Royal College of Physicians, Royal College of General Practitioners and British Medical Association to maintain medical opposition to assisted suicide. We are a campaign that is financed and administered by the Care Not Killing Alliance.
Journalists in England, Wales and Northern Ireland – please contact Alistair Thompson on 07970 162225 – [email protected]
Journalists in Scotland – please contact Tom Hamilton Communications on 07836 603977
Care NOT Killing – Promoting palliative care, opposing euthanasia and assisted suicide
A Limited Company in England and Wales, Company No. 06360578
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