Physicians adopt a neutral stance over assisted dying

News the the RCP had dropped its long-standing opposition has been welcomed by pressure group, Dignity in Dying which represents Shropshire campaigner Noel Conway.

Mr Conway fought a long battle to change the law regarding assisted dying but lost after three Supreme Court judges ruled against him.

He was seeking for a change in the law which would allow people suffering from incurable, long term illnesses, to access medical assistance to die when they have less than six months left to live, still have the mental capacity to make the decision and have made a “voluntary, clear, settled and informed” decision.

Mr Conway, 68, and a retired lecturer from Shrewsbury, suffers from Motor Neurone Disease.

In results released by the RCP today 31.6 per cent voted for The RCP to adopt a supportive stance and 43.4 per cent voted for The RCP to adopt an opposed stance. Because no clear majority voted for a supportive or opposed stance, the RCP will now adopt a neutral stance on assisted dying.

Fewer than half of respondents to the survey said they were personally opposed to assisted dying.

Sarah Wootton, chief executive of Dignity in Dying said: “It is highly significant that the oldest medical college in England has dropped its long-standing opposition to assisted dying in favour of a neutral position. This will allow the RCP to accurately reflect the range of views among its members and to contribute its expertise to the debate in a more balanced way. The RCP will now join the Royal College of Nursing, the Royal Society of Medicine and medical associations around the world which have taken a balanced and compassionate stance on this issue.

“With 80 per cent of the British public supporting a change in the law to allow terminally ill people a say over how and when they die, and over 100 million people in the USA and Australia and across Canada having access to safe, compassionate assisted dying laws, it is clear that this issue is not going away.

"This move from the RCP will allow the voices of terminally ill people and their loved ones to rightly be front and centre in this debate.

“The Royal College of Physicians should be congratulated for its commitment to engage with its members on this vitally important issue. We now urge other medical 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.”