Assisted dying: MPs hear evidence from doctors as Westminster mulls changes

“Palliative care and voluntary assisted dying are not mutually exclusive. They work together and many patients who are exploring voluntary assisted dying or going through the process are still accessing palliative care.”

So said Brian Owler, a consultant neurosurgeon in Australia who chaired the ministerial advisory panel on voluntary assisted dying in Victoria, the first Australian state to legalise voluntary assisted dying in 2017. Palliative care has not been sidelined since the changes in the law were enacted, he said.

Owler, along with colleagues from Australia, New Zealand, and the US, was giving evidence to UK MPs on 16 May as part of a parliamentary inquiry12 into assisted dying and assisted suicide. The cross-party health and social care select committee is gathering evidence from jurisdictions where assisted dying is legal to help determine what approach the UK might take to legislating on the matter.