Ministers are facing a stark warning that the proposed assisted dying legislation could trigger a mass departure of medical professionals from the National Health Service. The caution comes from a detailed legal analysis which highlights a critical lack of legal security for doctors who object to the practice on grounds of conscience.
Legal Loophole Leaves GPs Vulnerable
According to the legal opinion of Aiden O’Neill KC, a prominent human rights barrister, GPs who refuse to assist in ending a life would receive no protection against being dismissed by NHS bodies. This analysis, commissioned by the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, underscores a significant flaw in the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.
Mr O’Neill, who recently represented clients in April's landmark Supreme Court gender case, pointed out that while Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, the architect of the Bill, has proposed amendments to shield staff, these protections do not extend to General Practitioners. This is because GPs are not legally classified as NHS 'workers', and previous case law suggests they would not be covered by proposed changes to the Employment Rights Act 1996.
Broader Consequences for Vulnerable Groups
The legal scrutiny raises alarms beyond employment issues. Mr O’Neill expressed concerns that if passed in its current form, the Bill could undermine the state's duties to protect elderly, disabled, and mentally ill people under the European Convention on Human Rights.
He further elaborated that objecting GPs, often the first point of contact for someone seeking an assisted death, would still be compelled to direct patients to information on how to end their life. The analysis also warns that the Scottish assisted dying Bill contains even fewer protections for medical staff and questions the Scottish Parliament's 'legislative competence' to implement them effectively.
Mounting Pressure on the House of Lords
The debate is intensifying as the House of Lords continues its line-by-line scrutiny of the Bill, with the second of at least four committee sessions held recently. The proposed law would permit terminally ill adults in England and Wales with a prognosis of fewer than six months to live to apply for an assisted death, pending approval from two doctors and an expert panel.
While the assisted-dying lobby has high-profile supporters like Dame Esther Rantzen and her daughter Rebecca Wilcox, opposition is firm. Michael Robinson from the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children stated that the Bill places thousands of doctors and nurses in an 'invidious position', forcing them to act against deeply held religious, moral, or medical ethics. He urged the Lords to either fix the Bill's flaws or reject it outright, cautioning that failure to do so risks the lives of vulnerable people and could lead to an exodus of staff from an already strained NHS.
