40% of doctors now back assisted dying
FAMILY doctors have voted to remain opposed to assisted dying.
But a majority were in favour of change in an “emphatic shift” in views since GPs were last quizzed seven years ago.
Asked for their thoughts on the currently illegal practice, some 47 per cent said the Royal College of General Practitioners should oppose a change in the law.
However, some 40 per cent of the 6,674 members who responded voted in favour of a change, while one in 10 said the RCGP should be neutral. Two per cent abstained.
RCGP chairman Professor Martin Marshall said: “Assisted dying is a controversial topic and this was reflected in the responses to our consultation.
“However, the highest proportion of respondents said that the college should continue to oppose a change in the law on assisted dying.
“The role of the college now is to ensure that patients receive the best possible palliative and endof-life care, and to this end we are working with Marie Curie and others.”
The RCGP will not review its position for at least five years unless there are “significant developments”.
When the organisation last held a consultation in 2013, 77 per cent of a much smaller group of respondents opposed a change in the law, with just under one in five voting for change.
Campaigners said the latest results showed views were changing.
Last year, the Royal College of Physicians dropped its 13-year opposition to helping terminally ill patients die.
It adopted a neutral position after a vote by hospital doctors failed to reach a majority of 60 per cent.
Some 43 per cent thought the college should oppose a change, 32 per cent wanted it to support a change and 25 per cent were neutral.
Sarah Wootton, chief executive of Dignity in Dying, said the RCGP should follow this example with such a spectrum of views. She said: “This poll reveals an emphatic shift in views from 2013, with over half of GPs voting for the RCGP to drop its opposition to assisted dying.
“For the College to wilfully ignore these results raises serious questions about its credibility as a representative body.
“This regressive decision also abandons patients, the vast majority of whom want to see a change in our cruel, outdated assisted dying laws.”
However, Dr Gordon Macdonald, boss of Care Not Killing, said the law protected the sick, elderly, depressed or disabled.
He said: “We are pleased that the Royal College of General Practitioners recognise this and the dog-whistle message that singling out the terminally ill and disabled people would send.
“As Paralympian Tanni Grey-Thompson said, ‘Legalising assisted suicide will only serve to reinforce deep-seated prejudices that the lives of sick and disabled people aren’t worth as much as other people’s.
“The current laws that prevent assisted suicide and euthanasia do not need changing.”