Assisted dying as an ageing issue: centring older people in the debate

Assisted dying is predominantly a later-life phenomenon, yet debate and policy design rarely centre older adults' perspectives. This commentary reframes assisted dying as an ageing issue, synthesising existing research on how older people understand autonomy, suffering, dementia, dependency and end-of-life choice. While acknowledging safeguarding concerns, including those raised by the British Geriatrics Society, it argues that prevailing legal models focused on terminal prognosis or narrowly defined suffering exclude many older people experiencing cumulative decline or anticipating future loss of capacity. Greater empirical research and gerontological engagement are needed if older adults' voices are to shape future policy and practice. A gerontological framing positions high-quality palliative care and safeguarded choice as complementary rather than competing responses to later-life suffering.