Assisted dying could have major impact on courts, says ex-chief justice

Lord Thomas: ‘The really difficult question that hasn’t been addressed in this is how is the judge to proceed, as it cannot possibly be a rubber stamping exercise.’ Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

A former lord chief justice has warned that assisted dying could have a major impact on the court system, saying “no one has grappled with the detail” of the impact of the legislation on family courts.

Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, who held the role between 2013 and 2017, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the process of the assisted dying requests coming before the courts needed “working out precisely.”