A leading British palliative care consultant has described the assisted dying bill as “not fit for purpose” and is urging MPs to stop the bill from progressing any further.

Rejecting assurances from supporters of assisted dying who claim the proposed British version would be based on the scheme used in the American state of Oregon – widely regarded as the model with the most safeguards – Dr Amy Proffitt said “it’s far from a safe system”.

“The majority, 80% of the people that have assisted death have government insurance with Medicaid or Medicare suggesting that the vulnerable in society are not worth it,” she said.

“Put that into our NHS and what does it say about us as a society… those with disability, those with learning disabilities, those with social deprivation?”

Dr Proffitt added: “I think it’s deeply dangerous for the bill that has been proposed and it needs to be scrapped and we go back and look again.”

She and other leading palliative care doctors have expressed concern about the erosion of end of life care if the bill passes. It is a fear expressed by Britain’s hospice sector.

Read more:
Why is assisted dying so controversial – and where is it already legal?

Dr Ted Gruber, a retired Oregon doctor who has assisted numerous assisted deaths, says those fears have not been realised and the state’s hospice sector has strengthened since the introduction of assisted dying in Oregon in 1994.

He says he has never had any doubts about his role as a physician who assists a patient’s death.

“I’ve never been conflicted,” he explains. “I’ve attended a number of them.

“Each of the ones I’ve attended has been almost sacred if you will, it’s hard to explain but with the family there, the family dog in the bed, with the music playing that they want.

“Everyone’s sad, everyone’s crying, it’s not a joyful moment but in a way it’s kind of a sacred moment.”

Oregon’s assisted dying laws have not seen the same number of changes to widen the cohort groups who would qualify for an assisted death in the way, for example, Canada has.

So it has managed to steer clear of the “slippery slope” criticism levelled at other programmes.

Dr Gruber also said the assisted death scheme in Oregon had enhanced the patient-physician relationship.

“The role of the doctor who is attending the dying patient is one of listening and paying attention to what the needs of the dying patient are and it’s eroded when the patient can’t trust the doctor,” he said.

“When I’ve seen a patient who has tried to talk to a doctor about aid in dying and they’re like ‘oh, I won’t do that, I’m opposed to it’… well that doesn’t enhance a doctor-patient relationship, it will be enhanced when a doctor says let’s talk about why you want to ask that.”

Read more from Sky News:
Assisted dying law ‘unworkable, unaffordable and naive’
MPs criticise Esther Rantzen’s assisted dying intervention

Oregon’s assisted death model is the closest to what is being proposed in the UK.

Both require it to apply only to adults who are terminally ill, mentally competent, and have six months to live or less, and to take the drugs themselves.

But while Oregon cases are reviewed by two doctors, in the UK they would be reviewed by a panel including a psychiatrist, a social worker and a legal professional.

In Oregon, the drugs are posted to the individual for them to take when ready, whereas in the UK, a healthcare professional would bring them on the day of the planned death.

Marcy Lehman’s father Ted was “her hero, the person I looked up to’. An Oregon doctor, he chose to have an assisted death at home in Portland surrounded by his family.

Marcy was there by his side. And it was for her, her mother and ultimately her father, the right decision.

“This was my hero, the person I looked up to, and now the roles were switched and I was taking care of him, and I had to be his hero,” Marcy said.

She explained that his stomach cancer “was starting to work up his system so he couldn’t eat.”

“My dad was a strong person and stronger even up until his death,” Marcy added.

“He didn’t want someone to have to go to the bathroom with him to help with that or to feed him that wasn’t what he wanted – yeah, he was in pain, he could endure the pain, but it was really more the dignified way he wanted to leave this Earth.”

Ted’s family are grateful that they live in a state where assisted death is allowed. It’s a choice they would make again if they had to.

Now the UK must soon decide if that same choice is made available over here.

The Terminally Ill Adults (End Of Life) Bill was introduced to the House of Commons last October. Later next month, MPs will be asked to vote again in a ballot that will decide the fate of the proposed legislation.

As a ban on the sale of disposable vapes comes into force on Sunday, a doctor who set up the first-ever clinic to help children stop vaping has said she has seen patients so addicted they couldn’t sleep through the night without them.

Professor Rachel Isba established the clinic at Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool in January and has now seen several patients as young as 11 years old who are nicotine dependent.

“Some of the young people vape before they get out of bed. They are sleeping with them under their pillow,” she told Sky News.

“I’m hearing stories of some children waking up at three o’clock in the morning, thinking they can’t sleep, thinking the vape will help them get back to sleep. Whereas, actually, that’s the complete opposite of how nicotine works.”

Ms Isba said most of her patients use disposable vapes, and while some young people may use the chance to give up, others will simply move to refillable devices after the ban.

“To me, vaping feels quite a lot like the beginning of smoking. I’m not surprised, but disappointed on behalf of the children that history has repeated itself.”

A government ban on single-use vapes comes into effect from Sunday, prohibiting the sale of disposable vaping products across the UK, both online and in-store, whether or not they contain nicotine.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said usage among young vapers remained too high, and the ban would “put an end to their alarming rise in school playgrounds and the avalanche of rubbish flooding the nation’s streets”.

Circular economy minister Mary Creagh said: “For too long, single-use vapes have blighted our streets as litter and hooked our children on nicotine. That ends today. The government calls time on these nasty devices.”

At nearby Shrewsbury House Youth Club in Everton, a group of 11 and 12-year-old girls said vape addiction is already rife among their friends.

Yasmin Dumbell said: “Every day we go out, and at least someone has a vape. I know people who started in year five. It’s constantly in their hand.”

Her friend Una Quayle said metal detectors were installed at her school to try to stop pupils bringing in vapes, and they are having special assemblies about the dangers of the devices.

But, she said, students “find ways to get around the scanners though – they hide them in their shorts and go to the bathroom and do it”.

The girls said the ban on disposables is unlikely to make a difference for their friends who are already addicted.

According to Una, they’ll “find a way to get nicotine into their system”.

As well as trying to address the rise in young people vaping, the government hopes banning single-use vapes will reduce some of the environmental impact the devices have.

Read more:
Disposable vape ban explained
Why vapes are environmentally bad
School support worker struck off over vapes boasts

Although all vapes can be recycled, only a tiny proportion are – with around eight million a week ending up in the bin or on the floor.

Pulled apart by hand

Even those that are recycled have to be pulled apart by hand, as there is currently no way to automate the process.

Scott Butler, executive director of Material Focus, a recycling non-profit group, said vapes were “some of the most environmentally wasteful, damaging, dangerous consumer products ever sold”.

His organisation worries that with new, legal models being designed to almost exactly mimic disposables in look and feel – and being sold for a similar price – people will just keep throwing them away.

He said the behaviour “is too ingrained. The general public have been told ‘vapes are disposable’. They’ve even been marketed this way. But they never were disposable”.

A ban on disposable vapes comes into force on Sunday, with a warning issued about the “life-threatening dangers” of stockpiling.

From Sunday it will be illegal for any business to sell or supply, or have in their possession for sale, all single-use or disposable vapes.

Online nicotine retailer Haypp said 82% of the 369 customers they surveyed plan to bulk purchase the vapes before they are no longer available.

But the vapes contain lithium batteries and could catch fire if not stored correctly.

While more than a third (34%) of people surveyed by Haypp said they would consider buying an illegal vape after the ban, the overall number of people using disposable products has fallen from 30% to to 24% of vapers, according to Action on Smoking and Health.

Shops selling vapes are required to offer a “take back” service, where they accept vapes and vape parts that customers return for recycling – including single use products.

Read more: Everything you need to know about the ban

The Local Government Association (LGA) led the call for a ban two years ago, due to environmental and wellbeing concerns, and is warning people not to stockpile.

Cllr David Fothergill, chairman of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “Failing to store disposable vapes correctly could cost lives, given the significant fire risk they pose.”

How disposable vapes catch fire – or even explode

Figures obtained by the Electric Tobacconist, via Freedom of Information requests, found an increase in vape related fires – from 89 in 2020 to 399 in 2024.

Many disposable vapes use cheap, or even unregulated lithium-ion batteries, to keep the costs down. These batteries often lack proper safety features, like thermal cut offs, making them more prone to overheating and catching fire.

If the battery is damaged, or overheats in any way it can cause thermal runaway – a chain reaction where the battery’s temperature rapidly increases, causing it to overheat uncontrollably.

Read more:
Ban may not curb e-cig use
Toddler filmed vaping
Illegal vapes found in WW2 bunker

Then, once these fires start start, they are very hard to stop. Water alone can make things worse if the battery is still generating heat, so they require specialised fire suppressants to put them out.

Batteries can then re-ignite hours, or even days later, making them a persistent hazard.

Disposable vapes are a hazard for waste and litter collection and cause fires in bin lorries, even though customers have been warned not to throw them away in household waste. They are almost impossible to recycle because they are designed as one unit so the batteries cannot be separated from plastic.

Some 8.2 million units were thrown away, or recycled incorrectly, every week prior to the ban.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said usage among young vapers remained too high, and the ban would “put an end to their alarming rise in school playgrounds and the avalanche of rubbish flooding the nation’s streets”.

Circular economy minister Mary Creagh said: “For too long, single-use vapes have blighted our streets as litter and hooked our children on nicotine. That ends today.

“The government calls time on these nasty devices.”

‘One in five say they will return to cigarettes’

Separate research by life insurance experts at Confused.com found two in five people (37%) planned to stop vaping when the ban starts.

Nearly one in five (19%) said they would return to cigarettes once the ban comes into force.

The research was based on the answers of 500 UK adults who currently vape.

Vaping and smoking also appears to be on the rise, with Confused.com saying there was a 44% increase in the number of people declaring they smoke or vape on their life insurance policy since 2019.