M
Member
Speaking in the House of Lords on 6 February 2026
Debate
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) BillContribution
There is also the risk of confirmation bias, particularly where a doctor decides to initiate a conversation with a patient about assisted dying. In so doing, the doctor has reached certain judgments about the patient. However, the doctor’s assessment of the context in which the patient lives may be uninformed, and when coming to a decision about whether the patient has more or fewer than six months to live, their initial judgment may be confirmed by them as a consequence of unrecognised confirmation bias. If the doctor has made a decision that something may happen but is unaware of factors which may impact on the patient’s decision-making, the doctor may well feel confirmed in his judgment after discussions with the patient. That is a significant risk, given the extent to which patients generally believe that the information and advice given by doctors is to improve or enhance their situation, and also the extent to which patients have difficulty in comprehending what they are being told during these very sensitive discussions.
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