Transplant surgeon: fix palliative care before legalising assisted dying

Zubir Ahmed, an NHS vascular and transplant surgeon and former Labour MP, argues that England and Wales should fix their palliative care system before introducing assisted dying legislation. He contends that a patient's wish to die can be shaped by whether they have access to proper end-of-life care — and that too many people in England and Wales currently do not. True compassion, he writes, demands fixing care systems before introducing systems designed to help people die.

Full text

A person’s wish to die can be shaped by whether they have access to proper palliative care – and in England and Wales, too many do not

Zubir Ahmed is a transplant surgeon and former Labour minister

As a doctor, I have spent much of my professional life caring for people at some of the most vulnerable moments they will ever face. I have seen the anxiety that surrounds the prospect of dying, and the desperate wish of patients and families to avoid unnecessary suffering.

Naturally, we all want people facing the end of life to be treated with kindness and respect. But when considering the debate on assisted dying, true compassion demands that we ask a more fundamental question. What kind of society are we building if, before we’ve fixed the systems designed to care for people, we introduce a system designed to help them die?

Zubir Ahmed MP is an NHS vascular and transplant surgeon, and served as the parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Department of Health and Social Care from 6 September 2025 to 12 May 2026.

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Transplant surgeon: fix palliative care before legalising assisted dying

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