Doctors must be allowed to sensitively raise assisted dying with their patients if it is legalised, the British Medical Association has said.
A bill seeking to change the law passed a second reading in the House of Commons by 330 votes to 275 in November.
It will now be scrutinised by a committee of MPs, who will gather evidence and consider possible amendments, before a further vote is expected in April.
Critics are calling for a change to ban medical professionals from raising assisted dying with patients. They would instead be required to wait until patients ask about the option.
The British Medical Association, which will give evidence to the committee, takes a neutral position on whether assisted dying should be legalised.
But the union has said that if it did, then stopping doctors raising it with patients would be “an unacceptable intrusion of legislation into the privacy of the consulting room”.
Dr Andrew Green, the chair of the BMA’s medical ethics committee, told the Guardian: “After careful debate, we did conclude that there should be no requirement on doctors to raise the subject, but equally, they should be able to do so sensitively when they thought it was in the best interest of their patients.
“Some patients do find it difficult to bring up sensitive subjects in their consultations, and doctors are skilled at reading between the lines of what patients say and working out what has been left unsaid.”
Dr Green argued that doctors should be allowed to “gently open the door to those conversations” so patients can openly discuss everything on their mind.
He added: “The amendment under discussion would result in a lock being put on that door to effective communication. And we feel it would be an unacceptable intrusion of legislation into the privacy of the consulting room.”
The bill committee – led by Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP who introduced it – consists of 11 MPs who supported it at second reading and nine who voted against it.
Another Commons debate on the legislation is expected to take place towards the end of April, followed by a third reading vote.
If the bill passes that stage, it will progress to the House of Lords.
