Doctors will be able to deliberately help people to die under historic changes to the foundation principles of the NHS as part of efforts to legalise assisted dying.
Amendments tabled by backbench Labour MP Kim Leadbeater to the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill last night will amend the founding principles which established the NHS to allow doctors to assist patients to die.
One source close to Labour MPs fighting it told GB News: "The purpose of the NHS is changing."
The principles were set out in 1946 and enshrined in the National Health Service Act 2006.
Doctors will be able to deliberately help people to die under historic changes to the foundation principles of the NHS as part of efforts to legalise assisted dying (stock image)
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They state that the Health secretary must "continue the promotion in England of a comprehensive health service designed to secure improvement in the physical and mental health of the people of England and in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of physical and mental illness".
This will now be amended to include references to "voluntary assisted dying services" according to the amendment to the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.
Baroness Findlay, a crossbench peer and professor of palliative medicine who is against the law change, said: "This is about doctors deliberately ending life early.
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"It seems to be saying that ending life should be an aim of the NHS."
Nikki Da Costa, who campaigns against the law change, told GB News: "It feels extraordinary that the most consequential Act of any Labour Government, arguably of any Government - is being fundamentally rewritten by a private members' bill."
Leadbeater told GB News that "robust safeguards" would still be in place.
She said: “If Parliament agrees, the choice of assistance for terminally ill adults to shorten their deaths will become one part of the range of end of life care available in England and Wales.
The principles were set out in 1946 and enshrined in the National Health Service Act 2006
PA"If that is how somebody who is already dying wishes to end their days, that should be their right. With robust safeguards and protections in place, it is the compassionate, decent and responsible thing to do.
"The evidence from around the world is that only a very small minority of people would make the choice to ask for assistance to end their own lives, and nobody in the NHS would be under any obligation to participate if they chose not to.
"What would be wrong would be to leave the law as it is, forcing people to take matters into their own hands – with no safeguards at all – when they feel they have no other choice to avoid a painful and undignified death.”
Meg Hillier MP added: “This amendment radically changes the founding principles of our NHS. For almost 8 decades the NHS has served the people of Great Britain through its mandate to promote and protect their physical and mental health.
“This new addition to the bill will change that principle forever and risk undermining the proudest legacy of any Labour Government.”
