Assisted Dying: Principles, Practice, and Politics examined some of the complex issues surrounding the assisted dying debate and was particularly timely as it was held on the same day that Kim Leadbeater MP’s proposed bill The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill 2024-25 had its first reading.
The event convened experts from diverse fields to consider some of the practical considerations associated with implementing assisted dying. The intention was to move beyond broad arguments for and against law change, and instead consider the practical, ethical, and policy-related complexities of introducing assisted dying legislation.
Professor Katherine Sleeman, Lang Galazka Chair in Palliative Care at the Cicely Saunders Institute, participated as a panelist at the event, bringing to the discussion her expertise on palliative care and highlighting the inequalities in access to this. She highlighted the need for high quality palliative and end-of-life care and shared plans for the Impact Centre for Palliative and End-of-Life Care, which aims to accelerate better care for people affected by dying, death and bereavement, and reduce low-value care.
Other panelists included Anna Dixon, MP for Shipley; Professor Alex Ruck Keene KC (Hon); Professor Gareth Owen, Professor of Psychological Medicine, Ethics and Law, King's College London; ; Ben Spencer, MP for Runnymede and Weybridge; and Sonia Sodha, Chief Leader Writer and Columnist at The Observer.
The event also included a presentation by Professor Bobby Duffy, Director of the Policy Institute at King’s College London of recent public opinion polling data commissioned by King’s College London. This public opinion polling data showed that around two-thirds of people in England and Wales wanted the current Parliament to make assisted dying legal for terminally ill adults in the next five years.
Watch the full event back on YouTube.
