Medics involved with assisted dying will be given specific training in identifying domestic abuse, including coercive and financial control, under plans to strengthen the Bill. The risk of patients being coerced into ending their lives has been a key concern among opponents and wavering MPs. As line-by-line scrutiny of her Bill continues, Labour MP Kim Leadbeater accepted an amendment to ensure tougher safeguards on Wednesday.

She said: “It is the job of this committee to look at ways in which the Bill can be made stronger and more workable and I have made clear throughout that I will support amendments that do this. These amendments further strengthen the already robust protections in the Bill, helping to ensure that every person who seeks assisted dying does so fully informed of their options and protected from coercion.”

The amendment was put forward by Labour MP Jess Asato, who voted against the Bill at second reading in November. Despite it being accepted, the Lowestoft MP said she remained “deeply concerned about the effect this Bill will have on victims of domestic abuse”.

She raised concerns that “no amount of training will prevent victims from slipping through the net”, but added: “Though I remain opposed to this Bill, it has always been my intention to be constructive in ensuring that we improve the safeguards for the Bill in the case it passes.”

Supporters of assisted dying have argued that doctors already regularly make decisions about patients’ mental capacity and would be able to spot signs of coercion.

And medics involved in the process in countries where it is legal, such as some US states and Australia, are confident in their ability to identify abuse.

British doctor Clare Fellingham, who led the introduction of VAD at Perth Hospital in Western Australia, told the Express last year that coercion was “vanishingly rare” and would be easily detected.

She said: “More often than not, we see coercion as a very overt and blatant thing in the form of family members desperately wishing that their loved ones weren’t going to die and imploring them to accept further lines or treatment that the patient doesn’t want, or not to consider VAD.”

The amount of time medics spend with patients seeking assisted dying is “almost unparalleled in medicine”, Dr Fellingham added.

She said: “Having got to know somebody for a couple of hours in their home environment with their family around, combined with 20 years of being a doctor, I can absolutely tell you whether somebody was being coerced. It just doesn’t happen.

“There is a wealth of publicly available evidence out there…and there has never been, to my knowledge, a documented case of coercion.”

Ms Leadbeater is also supporting another amendment proposed by Polly Billington MP, which would require doctors to offer to refer patients to a palliative care specialist.

She added: “It’s important that people know what their choices are, the support is available to them and that, for those who still wish to pursue an assisted death, that there are clear, accountable, and protective steps in place.

“I remain committed to working with colleagues and stakeholders to ensure that this Bill delivers choice, genuine safeguards, and dignity for terminally ill adults approaching the end of their lives.”