Today, the committee examining the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, known as the Assisted Dying Bill, debated an amendment tabled by Danny Kruger MP to remove ‘medical condition’ from the definition of terminal illness. This was prompted by the BGS’s written evidence to the committee, outlining our concerns that this term implies the inclusion of frailty. After debating the amendment, we are pleased that the committee has voted to remove the term.
As outlined in our written evidence, the inclusion of “medical condition” within the definition of terminal illness is vague, clinically without meaning, and therefore left open to misinterpretation.
BGS members have raised concerns that this term may include frailty, a condition which affects up to half of the population over 85, and which can be noted on a death certificate. In the early stages, many of its impacts are potentially reversible and even in the advanced stages there is often clinical uncertainty about whether it can truly be considered a terminal illness, denoting people eligible in this bill, or a disability, making people ineligible.
Data shows that frailty is cited as the main reason for Assisted Dying in 5.7% of cases in Canada. There is also an established link between frailty and feeling a burden to others. This may mean older people with treatable clinical frailty may choose an assisted death to avoid burdening their family, which we view as unacceptable.
The BGS provided Danny Kruger MP with a briefing document on frailty, which he referred to in the committee meeting, and this was circulated to the committee.
You can read BGS’s written evidence to the committee here.
