Beyond Legalisation : The Overlooked Challenges of Implementing Assisted Dying in the UK

The content of the Terminally Adults (End of Life) Bill (hereafter TIAB) and the model of assisted dying that it would legalise are at risk of being overshadowed by the continuing uncertainty regarding its fate. However, whilst the increasing likelihood of the TIAB falling in the House of Lords before the end of the current parliamentary session looms large due to the sheer, unprecedented volume of amendments at committee stage, the question of how assisted dying (AD) would be provided in a publicly funded health care system is still pressing. Lord Falcolner’s amendments at Committee Stage in the House of Lords would impose a duty on integrated care boards, NHS England or the Secretary of State to arrange for the provision of voluntary assisted dying services, allowing for these services to be commissioned, and requiring them to be regulated by either or both the Care Quality Commission and NHS England (amendments 749B and C). However, how these services will be provided remains absent from the TIAB.