Catholic Medical Quarterly Vol 76 (3) August 2026
New mortality study of people with learning disabilities and autism
From Our Duty of Care
A major new mortality study makes for grim reading, revealing a harrowing picture for people with learning disabilities and autism.
It serves as yet another stark WARNING why the Leadbeater and McArthur assisted suicide bills should never be passed.
Key findings from the King's College London ‘Learning from lives and deaths – People with a learning disability and autistic people’ (LEDER) updated report are the:
1. 20-Year Life Expectancy Gap
On average, people with a learning disability die 19.5 to 20 years
younger than the general population.
Nearly 60% of adults with a
learning disability died before reaching the age of 65.
2. "Avoidable Death" Crisis
The report found that over 4 in 10 deaths of people with a learning
disability in 2023 were avoidable
(This is almost DOUBLE the rate of
the general population — approximately 21%)
For those with severe or multiple learning disabilities, 1 in 4 deaths were deemed treatable — meaning they likely would have survived with standard medical care.
3. Racial Disparities
The report highlights a "double disadvantage" for people from ethnic
minority backgrounds.
For people of Asian or British Asian backgrounds
with a learning disability, the median age of death was just 43.2 years —
nearly 40 years younger than the general population.
4. Autism-Specific Findings
For autistic adults without a learning disability, the data (though based on a smaller sample) is equally disturbing:
Deaths from SUICIDE, "misadventure" or accidental death are the LEADING cause of death (31.5%). By comparison: circulatory (heart) conditions accounted for 20.5% of deaths, then cancer at 14.5%
A 2024 global study found that autistic people without a learning disability were more than FIVE times more likely to die by suicide than people who are not autistic
Such a high incidence of suicides would suggest that people with autism would be at exceptionally high risk from pressure to undergo a medically assisted death, should the law change.
5. Systemic Healthcare Failures
The review identified several recurring themes that led to these premature deaths, including: Diagnostic Overshadowing: This is when symptoms are attributed to a person's disability rather than a physical illness, resulting in serious medical conditions being overlooked
Failure to Listen: A persistent failure of medical staff to take the concerns of patients and their families seriously.
6 Downs ‘misclassification’ is problematic too
Meanwhile, Mencap chief executive Jon Sparkes questioned why some deaths in the King’s report are still listed as “unavoidable” due to Down Syndrome. As Sparkes points out: “You simply cannot die from Down Syndrome.” “This hides the real reasons people died, such as missed screening, late diagnosis or failures in basic care.”
It is against this background that sponsors of the Leadbeater assisted suicide bill want to see remote assessments (video link) to replace face-to-face interviews with people seeking an assisted death.
Main Dangers: Remote Patient Assessment
Mencap and the National Down Syndrome Policy Group, along with a host of medical experts, have identified multiple “red flag” dangers with Zoom-type conferences
1: Coercion “behind the camera”
An assessing doctor CANNOT see who else is in the room.
An abusive
or inheritance-impatient relative could be sitting just out of the
camera’s frame, coaching the individual, or using hand signals/pressure to
influence their answers
2: Learning Disability
People with learning disabilities (e.g. Down syndrome) can be more susceptible to “people-pleasing” or following the lead of a trusted caregiver who may, intentionally or unintentionally, be nudging them toward the procedure.
3: Failure to Judge Mental Capacity
Assessing mental capacity under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 is
complex.
Subtle Cues: doctors rely on body language, eye contact, and
“gut feeling” to determine if a patient truly understands the finality of
the decision. These nuances are often lost over a pixelated screen or
lagging audio
Professor Martin Vernon: giving oral evidence as one of the country’s leading consultant geriatricians to a Parliamentary Select Committee in October, he warned that: “Assessing somebody's [capacity] remotely … without a face-to-face assessment, particularly if they have complex health and social care needs, is nigh-on impossible”.
4: Sensory Issues
Many people with autism or learning disabilities find video calls overstimulating or confusing.
5: Language Barrier
A remote doctor may use medical jargon that the patient nods along to without actually understanding, whereas an in-person doctor can use physical aids, “easy-read” documents, and visual cues more effectively.
This is especially the case when English is not spoken as the first language.
The LEDER report warns that people from Asian or British Asian backgrounds with learning disabilities fared worst of all in terms of life expectancy — roughly HALF that of the average person living in Britain
6: “Collateral Damage”
Baroness (Tanni) Grey-Thompson has argued that if the Leadbeater Bill allows remote assessment for assisted suicide, people with learning disabilities will become “collateral damage” of a system designed for “efficiency” rather than safety.
7: Criminal Justice System: Bad Outcomes
Transform Justice, a UK-based think tank, has consistently campaigned against the expansion of remote video links in criminal courts, seeing them as a barrier to a fair trial
They cite research (including a 2010 Ministry of Justice study and Sussex Police data) showing that defendants appearing via video link from police stations were more likely to receive prison sentences compared to those appearing in court in person.