Psychiatrist shortage could derail assisted dying bill

Uh oh. Kim Leadbeater’s assisted dying bill appears to have hit another bump in the road as it now transpires there may not be enough psychiatric doctors in the profession to make it work. Last week, an amendment put forward by the bill’s sponsor proposed that, instead of having a high court judge investigate each case, a panel of social workers and psychiatrists among others should oversee applications. But experts have warned that there may not actually be enough psychiatrists for this to work. Nice to see the pro-euthanasia crowd has done its research…

Professor Allan House, professor of liaison psychiatry at Leeds University, and Professor Gareth Owen, honorary consultant psychiatrist at King’s College London, have both given evidence to the committee scrutinising the legislation. Whether their advice is being listened to is quite another matter, however. Speaking to the Telegraph, House remarked that it was ‘not at all clear’ whether there would be enough doctors to sit on expert panels and oversee cases, while Owens warned that it was ‘probably not’ feasible for every case to be seen by a psychiatrist ‘given the current workforce’.