The terminally ill adults (end of life) bill will allow adults in England and Wales who are terminally ill to be provided with assistance to end their own life. The current law on assisted dying needs to be reformed, but this bill is not the solution. It proposes a morally questionable law that is likely to cause serious practical issues for the judicial system.

The bill, put forward by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, requires every application to be submitted to the High Court for approval. Of the 27 jurisdictions worldwide that have legalised some form of assisted dying, not one has opted for this approach. England and Wales should not become the first.

The rationale behind this aspect of Leadbeater’s bill is that doctors cannot be trusted, on their own, to assess the patient’s capacity to make a decision to end their own life. The court must do so.

However, court approval is not considered necessary for other end-of-life medical decisions. For example, patients have the right to refuse life-saving treatment, such as a ventilator or a blood transfusion, even if that refusal is irrational and will lead to their death. The patient is assumed to have capacity and the doctor is trusted to assess this, along with any evidence of coercion or pressure.

By contrast, under this bill, when a patient requests assisted suicide, they are considered vulnerable and in need........

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