Issues such as assisted dying, suicide and treatment refusal form an interconnected ‘wicked problem’. Wicked problems are hard because they are complex conceptually and empirically, but also because they can involve conflicting values and divergent emotions. Shifts in public opinion towards increased choice over life and death decision making and international developments in assisted dying legislation mean that there is increasing focus on life and death decision making in public and parliamentary discourse. To address this ‘wicked problem’, an interdisciplinary, collaborative and innovative approach to finding solutions is required

The Complex Life and Death Decisions group (CLADD) is a King’s based group with expertise in psychiatry, palliative care, bioethics, public policy and law. Members of the group lead research in life and death decision-making (particularly in relation to mental health conditions and palliative care), contribute to policy development, professional guidelines and law reform, and have appeared in leading court cases.

CLADD has a firm commitment to a shared set of values in our research and our work; they are that:

• We are committed to a research-first approach;
• We do not seek to lobby, but rather to inform;
• The decision whether (and how) to change the law in this area must be one for legislatures in a democracy;
• We take the value of individual autonomy seriously, but we do not consider that it is the only value at play; and
• Research in this area needs not only disciplinary and interdisciplinary expertise, but also viewpoint diversity.