The Royal College of Psychiatrists has finally spoken out against the Bill to introduce assisted suicide into England and Wales.
Their comments come ahead of an important vote in the House of Commons on Friday, 16 May, on proposed changes to the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, six months after <a href="https://thecatholicherald.com/breaking-dark-day-for-britain-says-bishop-as-mps-vote-in-favour-of-assisted-suicide/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">MPs first voted in favour</mark></a> of the move to legalise assisted suicide across the country.
Psychiatrists will play a central role on the panels of relevant experts – which some critics of the Bill have described as Death Panels – that will be used to approve assisted suicide applications, should the Bill be passed and become law.
The Royal College warns there is a danger that people suffering from depression will opt for suicide and that there are not enough psychiatrists to conduct the assessments required by the legislation, <mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color"><a href="https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/assisted-dying-bill-royal-college-psychiatrists-3gqz9jbcg">reports</a> </mark><em>The Times</em> of London.
Dr Lade Smith, president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, has described the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill as “inadequate”.
While the college is formally neutral on the principle of assisted suicide, Smith urged MPs “to look again at our concerns for this once-in-a-generation bill and prevent inadequate assisted dying/assisted suicide proposals from becoming law”.
Melanie Ward, a Labour MP opposing the Bill, argued that the concerns raised by the Royal College of Psychiatrists were “a blow to its foundations”.
“The expertise of psychiatrists is central to this new law and an essential part of the process and protections in the new panel system," Ward said. "If their Royal College feels as though the Bill does not provide the safety it should, we must take heed.”
Ben Spencer, a Conservative MP and consultant psychiatrist, warned of “serious practical problems", such as how engaging with this Bill would be incompatible with a doctor’s duty to protect life in terms of suicide prevention. He warned of “value judgments” by assisted suicide advocates that suggest it is natural for the terminally ill to want to end their lives.
“In trying to protect those with terminal illness they risk enshrining in law that their lives are worth less than others. This is a path we must not go down,” Spencer said.
Opponents of assisted suicide have said the criticism from the country's psychiatrists is a “blow to the foundations” of a highly contentious and deeply unpopular Bill that returns to the House of Commons this Friday, 16 May.
Those opposed to changing the law believe they are seeing “multiple” MPs come over to their side as practical concerns mount about the Bill, while some in government believe sentiment is turning against legalising assisted dying.
One MP warned of putting “moral pressure on the frail and the elderly”. Lord David Alton, who has been a vocal opponent of the Bill, took to <em>X </em>to highlight the growing resistance to and unease around the Bill.
However, while opposition to the Bill have been boosted by MPs switching sides, the general consensus from both sides, is that it is still likely to pass, reports <em>The Times</em>.
It says that those backing the Bill believe not enough MPs have actually changed their minds to defeat a measure that <mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color"><a href="https://thecatholicherald.com/which-political-party-embraced-assisted-suicide-parsing-the-vote-reveals-all/">passed its Second Reading by 55 votes last year</a></mark>, and remain confident of victory.
“I speak to a lot of MPs and I haven’t met any who have changed their mind,” said one MP. “But it does depend on who turns up so we can’t be too confident. It will be tight.”
On Friday, 16 May, all MPs will have the chance to vote on changes to the Bill, based on 90 hours of deliberation at the committee stage, a process that drew significant criticism from the Bill's opponents.
<a href="https://thecatholicherald.com/assisted-suicide-mp-unveils-stacked-committee-to-consider-her-bill/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color"><strong><em>RELATED: Assisted suicide MP unveils ‘stacked’ committee to consider her Bill</em></strong></mark></a>
The volume of subsequent amendments means a final Commons vote on the Bill is unlikely to occur – which would see the crucial Third Reading scheduled for June – though it is possible that the decisive vote could take place on Friday, <mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color"><a href="https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/you-can-still-play-your-part-in-stopping-the-assisted-suicide-bill/">notes</a> </mark><em>The Conservative Woman</em>.
The Third Reading is when MPs decide whether to push the Bill forward – after which it would have a very good chance of becoming law, unless something highly unexpected happens in the House of Lords – or to reject it outright.
The Bill's 149-page Impact Assessment, which was recently released, has been described as "chilling reading" by the Anglican Bishop of London, notes<em> The Conservative Woman</em>. The assessment estimates that 1,311 people would apply for assisted dying in the first year, rising to between 1,737 and 7,598 in year 10.
The cost of providing an assisted dying service is estimated to be between £10.9 million and £13.6 million a year, while reducing the cost to the NHS of providing healthcare to the terminally ill by as much as £10 million in the first year and by up to £60 million in year 10.
The Impact Assessment is judged to have "slipped out under the radar" as the recent UK local elections grabbed the headlines, <mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color"><a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05/13/eugenics-then-euthanasia-now-scotland-bill-dying-assisted/">according</a> </mark>to <em>Daily Telegraph</em> columnist Madeline Grant.
She describes the assessment as containing "the dystopian language we’ve come to expect from the debate; focusing on the service’s 'inclusivity'; perhaps to give women, disabled and vulnerable people equal access to death".
Grant highlights that the "Bill already covers a far wider remit than its proponents initially promised" and that it "is so comprehensively at odds with the principles of previous social reform that enacting it will mean rewriting the Bill on which the National Health Service was forged".
She goes on to say: "The legislation is so far-sweeping that the Bill’s proponents may become the first people to undo the basic healthcare principle that life should be preserved."
At least 15 MPs who previously voted for the Bill or abstained would now vote against it, the <em>Daily Telegraph</em> <mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color"><a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05/14/the-fall-of-the-assisted-dying-bill/">reported</a> </mark>yesterday, 14 May.
According to <em>The Times</em>, 28 MPs would need to switch for the Bill to be defeated.
The deliberation on assisted suicide in England and Wales follows a similar bill in Scotland having passed its first stage in the legislative process toward becoming law across the land.
On 13 May, MSPs (Members of the Scottish Parliament) voted in Holyrood by 70 to 56 to endorse the general principles of a bill facilitating assisted suicide through the NHS in Scotland, and by a wider margin than had been anticipated.
<a href="https://thecatholicherald.com/assisted-suicide-closer-in-scotland-after-parliament-backs-bill-in-seismic-vote/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color"><em><strong>RELATED: Assisted suicide closer in Scotland after parliament backs bill in ‘seismic vote’</strong></em></mark></a>
<em>Photo: Campaigners against the assisted suicide Bill kneel in prayer outside The Palace of Westminster in central London after the Bill to legalise euthanasia in England and Wales passed its Second Reading, London, England, 29 November 2024. (Photo by BENJAMIN CREMEL/AFP via Getty Images.)</em>
