Pharmacists to have choice to opt-out of assisted dying process

Pharmacists will not be forced to be a part in assisted dying cases with the MP leading the campaign expected to made amendments to the bill which is currently going through parliamentary process.

Kim Leadbeater, the MP behind the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, will say that “no person is under any duty to participate in the provision of assistance”.

The draft legislation currently states that doctors and other health professionals can refuse to take part. The new amendment will mean that pharmacists and any other staff involved in the process can say no and under employment law, they cannot be dismissed or face disciplinary action as a consequence.

“I promised during the lengthy committee hearings into the Bill that I would look at how we could extend the ‘opt-out’ provisions and that is what I will be proposing this week. As a result, nobody will be at risk of any detriment to their careers if, for any reason at all, they chose not to take part,” said Leadbeater.

“Not all people working in and around the health and care sector would want to participate in the provision of assisted dying”.

In a historic vote last year, MPs backed a bill to allow assisted dying, paving the way for Britain to follow other countries such as Australia, Canada and some U.S. states in what would be one of its biggest social reforms in a generation.

Under the proposed law, mentally competent, terminally ill adults in England and Wales with six months or less to live would be given the right to end their lives with medical help.

Polls show that a majority of Britons back assisted dying and supporters say the law needs to catch up with public opinion.

But following the initial vote in November, the bill is now under scrutiny and needs to work its way through both the House of Commons and the upper chamber, the House of Lords.

Amendments mean implementation will take more than the two years originally forecast, said Leadbeater.

The most notable amendment will remove the requirement for a High Court judge to sign off each case and instead rely on a panel of experts, including a senior legal figure, psychiatrists and social workers.

Setting up a voluntary commission of experts will take longer than simply referring cases to the High Court.

But Leadbeater said the law could be implemented before 2029: "Four years is very much a backstop, it is not a target."

If it did take until 2029, it could be pushed back until after the next national election, which must be held by August of that year, putting it at the mercy of the next government.