Dear Sir or Madam,

We write as authors of the recently published book The Reality of Assisted Dying: Understanding the Issues.

A dispassionate view reveals numerous problems associated with Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill. These include: a reliance on the inaccuracies of diagnosis and prognosis; the possibility of the concept of terminal disease expanding to include non-terminal; ignoring the inevitable reality of coercion; dismissing the greater possibilities of palliative care; the lack of a real conscience clause; the impossible strain the Bill would put on judges and the court system; and so on. Most of these problems are fundamental and beyond correction at committee stage.

We urge MPs who share these and other concerns not to abstain, but to vote against this proposal.

Yours faithfully,

Abdul-Azim Ahmed, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Wales, Cardiff.

Nigel Biggar CBE, Regius Professor Emeritus of Moral Theology and Senior Research Fellow, University of Oxford.

Ilora Finlay, The Baroness Finlay of Llandaff, The House of Lords and Distinguished Honorary Professor of Palliative Medicine, Cardiff University.

Alice Firth, King’s College, London.

Tanni Grey-Thompson, The Baroness Grey-Thompson DBE, DL, The House of Lords, Paralympian and Chancellor of Northumbria University.

Andrew Hawkins, CEO, Whitestone Insight and former founder and chair, ComRes.

Sheila Hollins, The Baroness Hollins, The House of Lords and Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry of Disability, St. George’s Hospital, London.

Julian C. Hughes, retired old age psychiatrist and Honorary Professor, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol.

John Keown DCL, Professor, Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University.

Fiona MacCormick, Consultant in Palliative Medicine, NHS Lothian, Scotland.

Claud Regnard, FRCP, Retired Consultant in Palliative Medicine.

Irene Tuffrey-Wijne, Professor of Intellectual Disability & Palliative Care, Kingston University, London.

John Wyatt, Emeritus Professor of Neonatal Paediatrics, Ethics and Perinatology, University College, London.

Kevin Yuill, Emeritus Professor of History, University of Sunderland and CEO of Humanists Against Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia.