The most senior doctor in England warned Tuesday that setting up an assisted dying service for terminally ill people should not be rushed if lawmakers choose to legalize euthanasia.
Chris Whitty, the UK government’s chief medical officer, made the comments as he became the first witness to appear before a parliamentary committee scrutinizing an assisted dying bill.
Whitty said he would “rather this wasn’t running against a timeline,” after a lawmaker suggested it could take two years from the law being changed to an assisted dying service being in place.
“My view is this is something which is best not done at speed if we can avoid it,” Whitty said to MPs.
He added the process for choosing assisted dying should be straightforward, stressing that someone with six months to live should not be “stuck in a bureaucratic thicket.”
“My view is the best safeguards are simple safeguards,” said Whitty.
Lawmakers voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill in Nov. 5, progressing it to the next stage of the parliamentary process for scrutiny.
Proposed by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, it would allow assisted suicide in England and Wales for adults with an incurable illness who have a life expectancy of fewer than six months.
They would have to be able to take the substance that causes their death themselves and any patient’s wish to die would have to be signed off by a judge and two doctors.
The measures are stricter than assisted dying laws in other European countries, but opponents say tougher safeguards are needed to prevent people from being coerced into choosing to die.
Supporters say changing the law would give dying people greater dignity and protections at the end of life.
The committee is set to hear from about 50 witnesses across three days of hearings this week.
Andrew Green, the ethics chief at the British Medical Association doctors’ union, testified that doctors should be able to opt out of offering assisted dying.
“It’s important that their position is respected,” he said of any doctor who did not want to participate.
Assisted suicide currently carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
The proposed legislation will still have to pass further debates and votes in the House of Commons lower chamber and the upper House of Lords before becoming law.
A separate attempt to change the law in Scotland, where helping someone die is not a specific criminal offence but can leave a person open to other charges, is under way at the devolved Scottish parliament.
