Decision-making and physician-assisted suicide: capacity assessment in the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is inadequate

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill1 currently before the House of Lords seeks to legalise physician-assisted suicide following a request from an individual who is predicted to have 6 months or less to live as a result of a life-limiting illness. Providing the request has been made freely and is not under coercion from a third party, the only requirement for assessment of the individual’s psychological and social state is that they have mental capacity as defined by the Mental Capacity Act 2005.2