Introducing assisted dying has major implications for health systems – and the way our health service works today will influence how it could happen.
Some have argued that the state of end of life care is so weak that it might be unable to support assisted dying, or pressure people wrongly to take it up. Others have suggested that problems in end of life care make choice more important.
This briefing draws on research over a number of years to shed light on how end of life care is really working and what recent trends have been. It then explores five key questions for the implementation of assisted dying, which we believe will determine the impact its introduction would have on the NHS.