Dr David Jeffrey: key facts
- Kind of voice
- Clinician
- Role
- Ethics & Law Subject Lead
- Quoted on
- Hospital discharge / bed-blocking
- Tracked press citations
- 1
- Most recently quoted
- 27 Aug 2026
Who Dr David Jeffrey is
Dr David Jeffrey is Ethics & Law Subject Lead at the Three Counties Medical School, University of Worcester, and holds an honorary lectureship in Palliative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh. After 18 years in general practice he became a palliative care consultant at the 3 Counties Cancer Centre, Cheltenham General Hospital, and previously held an honorary senior lectureship in Palliative Medicine at the University of Bristol. Following retirement from clinical commitments he served as Academic Mentor at Dundee Medical School, and has since undertaken qualitative research into medical students' empathy. He is known for his opposition to physician-assisted suicide, authoring 'Against Physician Assisted Suicide: A Palliative Care Perspective' (CRC Press, 2008), and for research into ethical issues in end-of-life care. His research interests also include the assisted dying debate and incorporating medical humanities into teaching.
“Research shows that one's chance of being able to die at home is related to the number of times GPs carry out home visits in the terminal stages of a patient's illness.”
References for this biography
- 1.Dr David Jeffrey – University of Worcester staff profile — Current role as Ethics & Law Subject Lead at Three Counties Medical School; career history in general practice, palliative care consultancy and academic mentoring; qualifications; research and teaching interests including assisted dying debate and medical empathy
- 2.SPPC Blog – Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care — Identifies Dr David Jeffrey as Honorary Lecturer in Palliative Medicine, University of Edinburgh, and co-author of 'Enhancing Compassion in End-of-Life Care Through Drama'
- 3.Palliative Care in the Home – Oxford University Press — Prior role as Macmillan Lead Palliative Care Consultant, 3 Counties Cancer Centre, Cheltenham General Hospital, and Honorary Senior Lecturer in Palliative Medicine, University of Bristol
- 4.Palliative medics: still no to AS – Care Not Killing — Press engagement: letter in The Times identifying Dr Jeffrey as Honorary Lecturer in Palliative Medicine, University of Edinburgh, opposing legalisation of assisted suicide
- 5.Against Physician Assisted Suicide: A Palliative Care Perspective – CRC Press (2008) — Authorship of book opposing physician-assisted suicide, published by CRC Press LLC in 2008
- 6.David Jeffrey – ResearchGate profile, University of Edinburgh — Affiliation with University of Edinburgh Centre for Population Health Sciences; published research on empathy in medical care and end-of-life care
Notable achievements
- Co-authored 'Against Physician Assisted Suicide: A Palliative Care Perspective' (CRC Press, 2008), setting out the palliative care case against legalising physician-assisted suicide in the UK. Source ↗
- Edited 'Teaching Palliative Care' (Radcliffe Press, 2002) and led the Palliative Care Education Group Gloucestershire. Source ↗
- Co-authored 'Palliative Care in the Home' (Oxford University Press) with Derek Doyle, while serving as Macmillan Lead Palliative Care Consultant at Cheltenham General Hospital and Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Bristol. Source ↗
- Quoted in The Times (published via Care Not Killing) as a leading palliative medicine voice opposing legalisation of assisted suicide. Source ↗
Where Dr David Jeffrey has been quoted
- Palliative care and choice must be at the heart of the assisted dying debate | Letterstheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
Related media coverage
Recent UK press coverage of their topics — not necessarily citing them directly.
Contact & links
Organisational contact points only, each taken from a page the organisation publishes itself. No personal or direct contact details are held or shown.
Doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and other registered clinicians quoted in a clinical capacity. Citations are counted by an automated scan of UK press coverage and may be incomplete. Roles, biographies and contact details are researched and human-reviewed before they appear here; anything not yet reviewed is simply absent rather than shown unverified. This profile was last updated on 5 Oct 2026. See the methodology for how this page is built, or email contact@bridgeheadcommunications.com to correct anything on it.