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England’s chief medical officer, Professor Sir Chris Whitty, has warned MPs against overly complicating assisted dying laws. He told a committee of MPs that simple safeguards are the best, fearing that too many regulations would confuse patients and lead to them ending up in a bureaucratic nightmare. The warning comes as the cross-party group of MPs evaluates a proposed assisted dying bill that would legalize assisted dying for terminally-ill adults in England and Wales with less than six months to live, should two doctors and a High Court judge agree.
The current proposed bill has raised concerns among other doctors, with Dr. Sarah Cox, representing the Association of Palliative Medicine (which opposes changing the law), and her colleagues stating that their main concerns revolve around accurately predicting how long someone has to live and detecting cases of coercion, particularly when it is subtle. Meanwhile, Retired High Court judge Nicholas Mostyn also expressed concerns, opining that it would be impossible for the court to rule in every case of assisted dying.
The bill’s aim is to allow individuals to have greater choice over their end-of-life care, whether that’s in the form of palliative care or assisted dying. However, the bill has yet to pass further scrutiny and multiple votes before it can be put into effect. Dr. Andrew Green of the British Medical Association, which is neutral on the law change, suggests that assisted dying should be offered through a separate service to normal healthcare, and not made part of a doctor’s regular job. Sir Chris agrees with the suggestion and adds that MPs may want to debate whether the service should be entirely separate from the NHS, but warned it will take time to put such structures in place.
The chief medical officer also noted that the proposed changes should not make the situation any worse for those seeking end-of-life care. On the contrary, the bill should encourage improvement in palliative care standards. While the two-year timeframe in the bill is a “reasonable starting point”, Sir Chris cautions that some aspects may take longer than the allotted time frames
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