A SWINDON peer is today battling to save his controversial bid to change the law to allow doctors to help terminally ill people die.

But Lord Joffe's Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill has become the focus of a co-ordinated attack from medical experts and fellow peers opposed to assisted suicide.

In a major blow, the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) and the Royal College of General Practitioners have abandoned their neutral stance and vowed to oppose the bill.

The RCP has also published a survey revealing that three quarters of the profession are opposed to a change in the law.

Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat Lord Carlile of Berriew has taken the unusual step of tabling an amendment, which could wreck the bill at its second reading in the Lords tomorrow.

The former human rights lawyer's legislation would enable adults, who are suffering "unbearably" as a result of a terminal illness and are of sound mind, to die at their own request.

This means a doctor would hand them a lethal drug for the patient to administer.

Rather than let the legislation proceed to later stages without a vote, as is usual for a second reading, opponents, led by Lord Carlile, are hoping for a decisive vote against.

They have been buoyed by the RCP poll which showed that 73.2 per cent of its fellows are against any change in the law to allow physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia.

Among palliative care doctors, 94.5 per cent are opposed.

The college also launched a second poll using a question drafted by Lord Joffe.

It read: "Do you believe that a change in legislation is necessary for the small number of terminally ill patients for whom palliative care does not meet their needs?"

Damagingly, this produced almost exactly the same result as the first poll 28.1 per cent favoured a change in law and 71.3 per cent opposed it.

Cross bench peer Baroness Finlay of Llandaff, professor of palliative medicine in Cardiff, said: "This poll shows that doctors who are deeply involved in caring for dying patients are opposed to this bill."

Lord Joffe a cross bench peer from Liddington, has said that the bill contains safeguards to prevent abuse.

It would require two doctors to state that the patient has less than six months to live, and two separate declarations by the patient, one of them witnessed by a solicitor.

Lord Joffe was yesterday unavailable for comment.