B

Baroness Cass (CB)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 13 March 2026

Debate

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Contribution

To clarify, whether we take the system proposed by my noble friend or the original system with the series of doctors, it is very unlikely under any circumstance that the clinician who is providing primary care for the patient will also be in one of those formal roles specified by the Bill. The reason is that, as we have discussed, people will need to opt in to that kind of role and have very specific training for it. Given the number of people who are predicted to be required to grant an assisted death, that will be quite a small cadre of clinicians. Therefore, although I understand the aspiration of the sponsor in the other place, and certain Members here, for there to be close integration between the team providing normal care and those involved in the dying process, in practice I do not see how that would be feasible in either system.

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