Assisted dying law inches closer as top doctors’ union drops opposition
BRITAIN’S largest doctors’ union has dropped its opposition to assisted dying following a landmark vote yesterday.
The British Medical Association (BMA) has been opposed to a change in the law since 2006 but will now adopt a neutral stance.
Leaders stressed this does not mean the organisation will be ‘silent’ on the issue, but it will leave it better placed to represent the views of members.
Some 49 per cent voted in favour of moving to a position of neutrality at the union’s annual representative meeting while 48 per cent voted against it, with 3 per cent abstaining.
Dr Robin Arnold, who proposed the motion, told the conference: ‘You do not have to decide today whether you are in favour of physician-assisted dying... You have to consider how best the wide range of views of our membership can be represented.’
But some members of the BMA, which represents 150,000 doctors, warned neutrality would be seen as ‘tacit’ approval. Dr Gillian Wright said: ‘The BMA defines physician-assisted dying as assisted suicide and euthanasia. Neutrality means tacit approval and has enormous political significance.’
Separately, the meeting passed a motion calling for ‘robust conscience rights’ to be included in any future legislation on assisted dying.
This would mean healthcare workers should be able to conscientiously object to participating in assisted dying.
It comes as the UK Parliament considers a Bill to permit doctors in England and Wales to prescribe lethal doses of drugs for dying patients.
Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, last week called for a change in the law in The BMJ, saying there is ‘nothing holy about agony’.
Dr John Chisholm, chairman of the BMA’s medical ethics committee, said: ‘Moving to a position of neutrality means the BMA will not lobby for or against a change in the law. But far from remaining silent on the issue, we will continue to represent the views, interests and concerns [of] our members.’
The motion was welcomed by some campaign groups, with Sarah Wootton of Dignity in Dying describing it as ‘a victory for common sense’.
More than 100 leading medics had signed an open letter before the vote urging the BMA to adopt a neutral stance.
But Dr Gordon Macdonald, of the Care Not Killing group, said current laws protect the vulnerable and do not need changed.
He added: ‘We are disappointed at the divisive nature of this vote as it exposes the divide between doctors who care for patients at their end of life... who oppose assisted suicide and euthanasia, and medics who work in unrelated disciplines.’
Two previous attempts to change legislation in Scotland in favour of assisted dying have failed. But a Bill to legalise it was lodged at the Scottish parliament by Lib Dem MSP Liam McArthur in June.
It aims to introduce the right to assisted death for terminally ill, mentally competent adults.
The law, if passed, would allow people who have lived in Scotland for at least a year to access medication to take their own lives if two doctors are satisfied they have met safeguards.
‘A victory for common sense’