Expert panels that would approve assisted dying cases would be appointed by a commissioner chosen by the prime minister, according to new details, prompting criticism from opponents. According to amendments tabled by Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP whose private member’s bill aims to legalise assisted dying for terminally ill people in England and Wales, some panels would be able to sit in private, and people refused an assisted death could get the right to appeal. The amendments set out how the process would work after Leadbeater announced earlier this week that she was removing the need for every case to be scrutinised by a high court judge, with this role now being performed by assisted dying review panels. While these panels would include a senior lawyer, a psychiatrist and a social worker, the change caused concern among some MPs who said they had voted for the bill on the basis that a judge would oversee each case. Leadbeater has said the move to a panel system will not just remove the potential bottleneck of having to provide family court judges, who have a significant workload, but would add extra protections against people being coerced to end their lives. Some MPs have said the move could cost support for the bill. It passed the Commons at second reading with a majority of 55, but some supporters have said the decision to back it again would depend on the results of the amendments stage. In a joint statement after Leadbeater’s full amendments were published, five Labour MPs who opposed the bill accused her of having “sprung yet another surprise upon MPs, this time the creation of a whole new body with panels and a distant civil service tsar to oversee assisted dying”. The statement issued by Antonia Bance, Jess Asato, James Frith, Meg Hillier and Melanie Ward, said: “Many MPs were already deeply concerned about the removal of the high court oversight that they voted for. “Now the bill’s supporters are proposing a civil servant should make decisions on life and death, working with a panel that doesn’t have to even meet the patient.” Under the 16 pages of amendments by Leadbeater, the panels would be appointed by a voluntary assisted dying commissioner – a role described as a “death tsar” by critics – who would be appointed by the prime minister. A person appointed to the role would need to be a sitting or former high court, appeal court or supreme court judge. As well as appointing the panels, they would look at possible appeals, and make an annual report on the operation of the act. The amendments also set out that if someone refused an assisted death by a panel believes the decision was irrational, unfair or wrong under the law, they can appeal to the commissioner. Patients can also ask for a panel to sit in private, with the decision made by the panel chair.