UK Medics Weigh In Ahead of Crucial 'Right to Die' Debate
By: Administrative Account | Source: CNSNews.com
May 11, 2006 6:38AM EST

By Patrick Goodenough
CNSNews.com International Editor
May 11, 2006

(CNSNews.com) - Medical opinion appears to be shifting against legalizing suicide in Britain, ahead of a critical debate on Friday over "right to die" legislation modeled after an Oregon law.

Two key medical institutions have now changed their stance from one of neutrality to opposition.

The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) made the decision after finding that over 70 percent of its members and fellows who responded to a survey were against changing the law to make it legal for doctors to prescribe lethal drugs to the terminally-ill.

The association -- which at almost 500 years old is one of Britain's oldest -- said it could not support legal change at this time.

The RCP said that whether the bill was enacted or not, it should prompt a campaign for better care for dying patients.

In the House of Lords on Friday, the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill will go through a process called a second reading -- a debate, possibly followed by a vote -- that will decide if the bill moves ahead or dies an early death.

Known as the Joffe bill (its sponsor is Lord Joel Joffe), the measure would enable terminally-ill adults who are of sound mind to choose to die by self-administering a drug provided by a doctor.

Another professional association, the Royal College of General Practitioners, has also come out against the bill, and this week urged members of the House of Lords to heed its opposition when voting.

The organization, which is Britain's largest such medical body and has more than 24,000 members, said it firmly believed that with current improvements in palliative care, good clinical care could be provided to patients within existing legislation.

"Assisted dying has been one of the most debated issues in the history of the college," said Chairman Professor Mayur Lakhani, adding that it had reached a clear decision in opposition to changing the law.

Also this week, 24 palliative care specialists published a letter in a London daily saying the bill was flawed.

"We respect the views, the dignity and the autonomy of our patients but we do not believe it is right to end a patient's life," they wrote.

Not all medical opinion concurs, however. Another medical body, the British Medical Association, a year ago changed its policy on assisted dying from one of opposition to one of neutrality.

It decided it would "not oppose legislation which alters the criminal law but should press for robust safeguards both for patients and for doctors who do not wish to be involved in such procedures."

Wording bias

Euthanasia advocates say a large majority of Britons support their viewpoint.

A group called Dignity in Dying (which until last January was called the Voluntary Euthanasia Society), cites 11 polls between 1984 and last year, in which support for medically-assisted dying ranged from 72 to 87 percent.

Euthanasia opponents charge that survey results can be skewed depending on the way the questions are worded. They also argue that simple yes/no surveys are not always reliable indicators when it comes to a complex issue.

In its consultation of members, the RCP first asked for a response to the question: "[We] believe that with improvements in palliative care, good clinical care can be provided within existing legislation and that patients can die with dignity. A change in legislation is not needed."

Of more than 5,000 respondents, 73.2 percent agreed.

But some RCP members alleged the wording was biased against the bill, so the RCP sent out a second question, drafted by Joffe himself: "Do you believe that a change in legislation is necessary for the small number of terminally ill patients for whom palliative care does not meet their needs?"

This time, of more than 2,100 members who responded, a similar proportion (71.3 percent) still took a stance against the bill - despite Joffe's assertion that the question he had worded would produce a "very different" response.

In a poll of the general public published on Sunday, 65 percent of respondents agreed that if the proposed law passed, "vulnerable people could feel under pressure to opt for suicide," while 28 percent disagreed.

The survey, which was commissioned by a coalition of anti-euthanasia groups, also found that 75 per cent agreed that "people with treatable illness such as depression might opt prematurely for suicide" if the law passed.

'Frightened'

Leaders of Britain's major churches have taken a stand against the measure, including Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, and Catholic bishops.

The Anglican Archbishop of Wales, Barry Morgan voiced concern that the bill could "lead to pressure being placed on vulnerable individuals to follow the euthanasia route because of fear of pain or because of family or social expectations."

Supporters of the bill, however, argued that many Christians' views are being ignored or misrepresented.

The British Humanist Association issued a report accusing "unrepresentative Christians groups" of fear-mongering and spreading misinformation on the subject.

Executive director Hanne Stinson said Christians campaigning against the bill "seem to show little compassion for the terminally ill and their relatives."

Dignity in Dying responded to the humanists' report by saying "the church ought to be listening more attentively to the millions of Christians who don't agree with its hard-hearted theology."

In a letter published Tuesday, a woman with a severe form of spinal muscular atrophy pointed out that despite the poll results cited by Dignity in Dying, the bill "has failed to get the endorsement of a single organization of disabled people."

"The very people the bill is intended to help, the terminally ill and disabled, are frightened by what it seeks to achieve," wrote Jane Campbell, organizer of a group called Not Dead Yet and former chairwoman of the British Council of Disabled People.

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