Doctors’ poll to see if they back assisted suicide

DOCTORS are to be asked if they would help a sick patient to die.

The Royal College of Physicians will poll its 35,000 members next month.

It comes as Sara Fenton told of her heartbreaking trip abroad so husband Keith, 59, could take his own life.

Sara, 56, said he died early because

of the law in Britain on assisted suicide. The Royal College of Physicians will ask if members think assisted dying should become legal here, and if they would be prepared to “participate actively” in assisted dying if the law was changed.

It follows a Mirror poll last year that showed three in four people would support a change to allow assisted dying to reduce suffering.

RCP president Professor Andrew Goddard said: “The Royal College of Physicians is frequently asked for its stance on this high-profile issue, which may be cited in legal cases and parliamentary debate.

“So it is essential we base this on an up-todate understanding of our members’... views.”

The RCP said it would adopt a neutral position

SURVEY Prof Goddard until two-thirds of respondents support or oppose a law change. Assisted dying campaigner Noel Conway, who has motor neurone disease, said: “It is right and proper that doctors are regularly consulted by their representative bodies so politicians, the courts and others know that doctors’ views are changing.” Sarah Wootton, the chief executive of Dignity in Dying, which also backs assisted dying, said: “It is now the duty of other organisations, such as the Royal College of General Practitioners and the British Medical Association, to engage with their members in a similarly open and constructive manner.”

Care Not Killing, which campaigns against assisted dying being legalised here, said: “We are confident that, as has happened