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| BMA in U-Turn Over Euthanasia |
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Copyright 2006 Associated Newspapers Ltd.
By Jenny Hope THE British Medical Association voted to oppose the legalisation of euthanasia yesterday after a revolt by its members. Just a year after it was adopted, doctors overturned the controversial policy of a neutral approach to any change in the law. The move followed claims by campaigners that the BMA was out of touch and isolated in the medical community. Polls show that up to three-quarters of doctors are opposed to physician-assisted suicide. Both the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Royal College of Physicians have had to back away from neutrality after members pushed for active opposition.
Just over 80 per cent approved a proposal that, if euthanasia were to be legalised, there should be a clear demarcation between doctors who would be involved in it and those who would not. But a move to ballot all BMA members on the issue was lost. Until last year's annual meeting, the BMA had opposed euthanasia for decades. Doctors calling for a return to that position yesterday said legalisation of assisted dying would put terminally ill patients under increasing pressure to end their lives.
He said 'My concern is that the right to die will become a duty to die, a duty to unburden their families.' Baroness Finlay of Cardiff, a consultant in palliative care medicine, said voluntary euthanasia was now responsible for one in 32 deaths in Holland and one in 700 deaths in the U.S. state of Oregon, which also approves physician-assisted dying.
Lady Finlay was among peers who helped defeat Lord Joffe's bill to allow assisted dying in the House of Lords last month. But Kettering GP Dr John Fitton said doctors had to respond to the will of terminally ill patients ñ some of whom had sought help to die from foreign organisations such as Dignitas in Switzerland. He said: 'Despite the blanket cliche of palliative care, I know that even today people still die in undignified misery. 'It's inhumane and disgraceful to have to be resourceful enough to travel to other countries for this enlightened service.' Campaigners led by the Care Not Killing Alliance, a coalition of 30 anti- euthanasia organisations, claimed there had been a backlash among BMA members. CNK campaign director Dr Peter Saunders, who is general secretary of the Christian Medical Fellowship and a BMA member, said it was a victory for 'doctors at the coalface'. He said 'Over the last 12 months the leadership of the BMA has been out of touch with grassroots opinion.' The CNK had claimed that last year's change in policy ñ won by a narrow margin of 93 votes to 82 ñ came after rigging of the agenda by euthanasia supporters. But Dr Michael Wilks, head of the BMA's ethics committee, insisted there had been no question of doctors being 'bounced or manipulated'. He also denied an allegation by the CNK that he is, or has ever been, a member of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society. Liberal Democrat MP Dr Evan Harris, who proposed last year's change of policy, claimed doctors were split on the issue. He said: 'At the moment the religious lobby is winning the tactical battle, but society should not allow religious views on the sanctity of life to trump the right to autonomy of a patient who does not share those views.' |
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