"Psychiatrists have roles in Assisted Dying laws to assess mental capacity. In the UK, they will need to be clear about ‘what’ they are assessing mental capacity for. A treatment decision is not the same thing as a decision to end one’s own life."
Professor Gareth Owen, Professor of Psychological Medicine, Ethics and Law at King's College London
20 February 2026
Should Assisted Dying be considered a "treatment"?
New research from King’s College London has asked whether Assisted Dying, whereby an individual is helped by a medical professional to end their own life, should be considered a "treatment".
The research, published in the International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, highlights how, if Assisted Dying is classified as a treatment, complex ethical and legal implications arise for the UK Government’s role over patient health.
In the UK, Parliament is currently debating the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill with a view to putting forwards legislation about Assisted Dying. The Bill is silent about whether AD is a treatment. Researchers in this study wanted to analyse how the Assisted Dying decision has been characterised in other jurisdictions where it has been legalised or is making progress in parliaments.
Their analysis established 30 jurisdictions across the globe where Assisted Dying laws have been put into place, and included a further 2 where Bills have been put before parliaments but have not yet passed into law.
In just under half of the jurisdictions (14) the law is ambiguous as to whether or not Assisted Dying is a treatment but subsequent government guidance tends to interpret it as a treatment. A further 10 jurisdiction explicitly consider Assisted Dying to be a treatment. This is in contrast to only 4 jurisdictions where Assisted Dying is considered “a decision to end one’s own life”.
The researchers recommend against classifying Assisted Dying as a treatment or leaving the law ambiguous. Ambiguity, they argue, will give rise to legal and policy problems or unintended consequences for the doctrine of informed consent to treatment and the duties of government and doctors for patient health. Rather, the researchers advocate for framing Assisted Dying as a choice ‘to end one's own life’ in the context of terminal illness with further clarification that it is not a treatment.
"The question of whether Assisted Dying is considered a treatment may appear to be of only academic interest, but it has profound real-world implications. Ambiguity on this question in the Terminally Ill Adults Bill introduces potential risks for both the patients who might consider assisted death, and the professionals who care for them. Parliamentarians must address this question."
Katherine Sleeman, Professor of palliative care at King's College London
"If Parliament does not make clear that the provision of a lethal substance is not a treatment, the parameters of care for all terminally ill people - irrespective of whether they might wish its provision - will be irrecoverably changed."
Alex Ruck Keene KC, Professor of Practice, The Dickson Poon School of Law at King's College London
Is assisted dying a treatment? (Gareth S. Owen, Maria Koniarz, Alex Ruck Keene) (DOI10.1016/j.ijlp.2026.102196) was published in International Journal of Law and Psychiatry.
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In this story
Professor of Psychological Medicine, Ethics and Law
Professor of Practice
Laing Galazka Chair in Palliative Care, Honorary Consultant in Palliative Medicine
Related departments
- Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience
- Centre of Medical Law & Ethics
- School of Academic Psychiatry
- Department of Psychological Medicine
- Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care
- Cicely Saunders Institute of Palliative Care, Policy & Rehabilitation
- The Dickson Poon School of Law