British Medical Association Agrees “Assisted Dying is Not a Medical Treatment”

The British Medical Association (BMA) has affirmed that “assisted dying is not a medical treatment”, highlighting many of the issues with legislating in this area that will be of concern for MPs.

The BMA, the professional association and trade union representing and negotiating on behalf of all doctors in the UK, agreed at its Annual Representative Meeting last month that any legislation around assisted suicide should specify that “assisted dying is not a medical treatment”, and that it “must not alter the fundamental principles of the NHS”.

Motions passed at the Meeting also agreed that any assisted suicide legislation must be opt-in, to ensure that “no doctor would be required to have any involvement” with assisted suicide. The organisation affirmed that any assisted suicide legislation must explicitly protect the rights of medical students and doctors to not be forced to participate in any aspect of assisted suicide.

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With regard to funding, the BMA agreed that any assisted suicide regime should be required to be funded separately from core NHS practices, and “must not result in any de-prioritisation or reduction of funding for core general practice, mental health, or palliative care services”.

Support of assisted suicide Bill unlikely under Burnham’s leadership

The reallocation of funding from other services, especially palliative care, has also been a concern of the likely next Prime Minister, Andy Burnham.

The New Statesman reported on Tuesday 16 June that Andy Burnham may oppose a new assisted suicide Bill, and would not welcome its return.

The article stated that, should Burnham become Prime Minister, “it is hard to see a world in which he would welcome this Labour Party-dividing legislation”.

Burnham has said he supports the principle of assisted suicide, but has set a precondition that hospices must be “properly funded and sorted out” before any law change.

Burnham previously stated, “[In] terms of the implementation of it, I would say there should be a kind of requirement that the hospices of this country get properly funded and sorted out before that law change comes in”.

He added that palliative care is not “in the strong position it should be in”, stating that, “Consequently, you can’t have this law change with an underfunded hospice movement”.

Given the end-of-life care crisis in this country, Burnham’s precondition, that palliative care is properly funded before assisted suicide is introduced, has plainly not been met. It therefore seems unlikely he will support the revived assisted suicide Bill.

Burnham’s position is similar to that of Wes Streeting, the former Health Secretary who came out in support of Burnham’s bid for leadership. Streeting is also not opposed to the principle of assisted suicide, but has said that end-of-life care is not in a condition where people at the end of their life would have genuine freedom to choose an assisted death. On this basis, the former Health Secretary opposed the Leadbeater Bill at both Second and Third Readings.

However, the Minister for Care, Stephen Kinnock, who voted in favour of the Bill at Second and Third Readings, told the Lords Select Committee that, if the Bill passed, it would have “financial implications” and that there would need to be “some reprioritisation” of funding to accommodate this.

The BMA’s requirement that no funding for other services is de-prioritised, therefore, seems unlikely to be met under the returning assisted suicide Bill, which Lauren Edwards MP has suggested will be identical to the Leadbeater Bill, which failed to pass in the previous parliamentary session.

Dr Andrew Green, BMA medical ethics committee chair, said that the BMA, speaking on behalf of doctors who are advocates for their patients, “will not stay silent on an issue that will significantly impact the profession and those we care for”.

Green said there are “key issues that [the BMA] believe must be addressed if the law does change”, reiterating that more needs to be done to “ensure [doctors] are supported and protected alongside their patients” on the issue of assisted suicide.

Return of Bill will cause division in the Labour Party at the worst possible time

After Lauren Edwards announced she would bring the Bill back, several Labour MPs took to social media to point out that bringing back the assisted suicide Bill would fuel the flames of current tensions in the Labour Party, causing further division, at the worst possible time. These MPs include Adam Jogee, David Smith, Rupa Huq and Kirsteen Sullivan. Other MPs, including Ashley Dalton, Emma Lewell, Antonia Bance, Allison Gardner, Daniel Francis, Uma Kumaran, Ian Byrne, Scott Arthur and Andrew Pakes, alongside Labour Peers and former MPs Luciana Berger and Barbara Keeley, all also expressed serious concern about the return of the Bill.

Still more Labour MPs reposted the concerns of their colleagues, including Chi Onwurah, Jess Asato, Mary Glindon, Melanie Ward and Patrick Hurley, as well as former Labour rebel Karl Turner, who predicted defeat for a new Bill, making the division this Bill will cause pointless. Former Labour MPs Diane Abbott and Rosie Duffield also publicly opposed the return of the Bill.

Given the ongoing turmoil in the Labour Party and the fact that 42% of Labour MPs (160, including several Cabinet Ministers) voted against the Bill at Third Reading in 2025, many MPs will be dismayed at the return of a controversial Bill that will cause division and distract from other priorities, while also leading to a backlash from constituents, especially when it will likely fail.

A similar Bill has recently been rejected in Scotland, where, strikingly, 85% of Labour MSPs (17/20) opposed the Bill. Many new intake Labour MPs likely voted for the Westminster Bill previously because of the support of Keir Starmer early on in their parliamentary careers.

Given only 12 MPs would need to change their minds for the Bill to be defeated, and any new vote would likely become a referendum on the use of the Parliament Acts as well as on the flawed Bill itself, this strongly suggests that the Bill is on track to be defeated.

Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “The BMA are right to note that assisted suicide is not a medical treatment and that no doctor should be forced to assist a patient in ending his or her own life”.

“Many groups of experts, doctors, medical professionals, disability organisations, and Parliamentarians have all made clear that the Bill is unsafe. Forcing this unamended version of the Bill into law using the Parliament Acts, as some of its supporters intend, would create legislation that places lives at risk, directly against the recommendations of these experts”.

“MPs must vote against this Bill at Second Reading on 11 September”.

LifeNews Note: Republished with permission from Right to Life UK.