UK MPs were encouraged to uphold the current law prohibiting assisted suicide and work instead towards improving palliative care.

Dr Dominic Whitehouse, a doctor working in palliative care, told MPs from across the political spectrum that based on his own medical experience, legalising assisted suicide would affect vulnerable patients by creating a pressure on them to die.

He presented evidence from the US showing that in 2018, over half of those killed by assisted suicide in Washington state (51%) and in the state of Oregon (54%) said they had decided to end their lives because of the burden on family and friends.

“I have shown you why legalisation of physician assisted suicide would be a bad idea, and likely to harm patients, doctors and the public at large, and shown you how, on the other hand, good palliative care, properly funded, and equitably available, is the humane answer to suffering at the end of life,” Dr Whitehouse said.

“It should be our promise to our citizens at the end of their lives whenever they need it.”