British doctors consider euthanasia issue once again

Jun 29 2006

Doctors in Britain are set yet again to debate the euthanasia issue.

At the annual conference in Belfast the British Medical Association (BMA) will discuss whether or not they agree with proposed changes to the law which would allow terminally ill patients to be helped die.

At its conference last year the BMA agreed that the issue of assisted dying was a matter for society and parliament and voted to drop its stance against euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide.

But a motion at this year's conference is now calling for further discussion on the matter.

It was only in May this year that a bill to relax current rules was blocked by the House of Lords but that is expected to be reintroduced.

The bill which was proposed by Lord Joffe, would give doctors the right to prescribe drugs that a terminally ill patient in severe pain could use to end their own life.

At the time it was argued that assisted dying, where a physician prescribes medication which a patient can take to end their own life was already taking place in a discreet manner.

Voluntary euthanasia where a doctor would actually help the patient die raises all manner of controversy.

In May peers backed an amendment to delay the bill by six months by 48 votes and Lord Joffe admitted that the vote was intended to end the debate, but pledged to reintroduce his bill at a later date.

Last year the doctors backed a motion stating that the BMA should not oppose legislation which alters the criminal law but should press for robust safeguards both for patients and for doctors who not wish to be involved in such procedures.

Many doctors were unhappy with that vote and have remained resolutely opposed to any form of assisted dying and argue that improvements in palliative care mean that even in the worst cases patients can be helped effectively through their final days.

The conference will be asked to back a motion opposing any attempt to legalise physician-assisted suicide or voluntary euthanasia in the UK.

Representatives will also consider whether they should hold a ballot of all BMA members on the issue.

A supplementary motion argues that if euthanasia were legalised measures must be put in place to provide a "clear demarcation between those doctors who would be involved in it and those who would not".

Accusations of undue influence being applied by groups against euthanasia have been brandished with some campaigners warning that lives could be ended to save cash.

In a new survey of 200 doctors, carried out by GFK Healthcare for Dignity in Dying, it was found that 30% of GPs would be willing, in principle and if the law permitted, and subject to a range of safeguards, to write a prescription to assist a patient to die if their suffering could not be relieved by palliative care.