House of Lords amendment to Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill following concerns raised for victims of occupational diseases

As the House of Lords debates the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, Michael Rawlinson KC and David Green of 12KBW were personally credited for their work on the interaction between the proposed system of assisted dying, and existing Fatal Accidents Act legislation for victims of industrial diseases.

The House of Lords is currently considering a large number of proposed amendments to the Bill, introduced by Kim Leadbetter MP in the House of Commons in 2024.

But the Bill takes no account of how the Fatal Accidents Act 1976 allows the dependants of deceased victims – for example, the families of patients with mesothelioma – to claim compensation. Claims can only be brought “if death is caused by any wrongful act, neglect or default which is such as would (if death had not ensued) have entitled the person injured to maintain an action and recover damages” section 1(1). If the Bill passes, and a mesothelioma victim qualifies for and chooses an assisted death, their death would at the least, arguably, not be “caused by” any negligence or breach of duty: it would be caused by their choice of a legal assisted death. Additionally, even if causation could still be laid at the door of the party which caused the exposure, the case of Reeves v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis [2000] 1 AC 360 could equally arguably require the application of a discount for contributory negligence.

In moving an amendment to the Bill in the Lords on 30 January 2026, Lord (Mark) Harper said:

“[The amendments] are responding to concerns raised by David Green, a barrister specialising in industrial disease cases, and Michael Rawlinson KC, who wrote to a number of Peers, alerting us to the fact that the current drafting of the Bill can negatively affect some victims of occupational diseases. […] If victims of occupational diseases opt for an assisted suicide, their dependants, under my reading of it, would probably lose their right to sue whoever caused their disease under the Fatal Accidents Act 1976, unless this Bill specifically provided otherwise, which it does not currently”.

Lord Harper pointed towards the scale of the potential problem, and that mesothelioma deaths alone currently outnumber fatal road traffic accidents (2,218 compared to 1,624 in 2023).

The amendment secured cross party support from Lords Harper and Sandhurst KC (Conservative), Carlile of Berriew (Liberal Democrat), and Hendy KC (Labour).

Lord Falconer, the Bill’s promoter in the Lords, replied that the point was of “considerable importance” and that victims “should not lose that right as a result of taking an assisted death”, and proposed a review of the effects of the Bill on the operation of the Fatal Accidents Act before the Bill, if passed, comes into force.

Michael and David continue to engage with parliamentarians in support of this essential issue for the future of the legal system’s procedure for properly compensating victims of fatal occupational diseases.

The full debate can be viewed online at Parliament.tv (beginning at 15:16:27), and is reported in Hansard (HL Deb 30 January 2026, Vol 852, Col 1242ff).