Actress Sophie Turner has co-signed a letter warning that the proposed assisted dying Bill could place people with eating disorders at serious risk. The Game of Thrones star, who has spoken about her own battle with an eating disorder, joined campaigners and mental health organisations in urging the House of Lords to reconsider the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.
The letter, orchestrated by the Eat Breathe Thrive Foundation for Eating Disorders, argues that the definition of “terminally ill” could be interpreted to include individuals who develop severe physical complications from starvation, purging, or restricting insulin. Signatories including the charity Mind, TV presenter Gail Porter, and former Hollyoaks actor Stephanie Waring expressed deep concern that those who could recover with effective care might instead receive lethal medication during a period of despair.
The Bill would allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales with a prognosis of less than six months to seek an assisted death, subject to approval from two doctors and a panel including a social worker, a senior legal professional, and a psychiatrist. But campaigners reject the notion that people with eating disorders would be ineligible due to lack of capacity, stating that they “are often coherent and capable of making decisions unrelated to nutrition, even when severely ill”.
Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, who introduced the Bill, has said that an amendment specifying that voluntarily stopping eating or drinking does not make someone terminally ill, combined with existing safeguards, would prevent people with eating disorders from falling within its scope. However, the letter contends that amendments “may lessen the risk … but cannot remove it entirely”, pointing instead to “the deeper problem” of a healthcare system suffering from “decades of underinvestment, limited research, and poor co-ordination”.
The House of Lords is scheduled to hold its second committee session on the Bill on Friday, with more than 900 amendments tabled. The Royal College of Psychiatrists has also voiced concerns, insisting the legislation must explicitly exclude the physical effects of mental disorders such as anorexia or dementia. The campaigners have urged peers to “pause and ensure that legislation intended to bring compassion to those facing terminal illness does not end the lives of those who could still recover”.
