Wow…maybe the Culture of Death (TM) of Great Britain has been chased off for awhile. Doctors who make up the British Medical Association have voted against legalizing assisted suicide or euthanasia.

Doctors today decisively rejected the legalisation of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide.

In a debate at the British Medical Association meeting in Belfast, representatives overturned policy that was only formulated last year, and joined other leading medical bodies in opposing any change in the law.

The vote was clear-cut, with two thirds of the doctors present rejecting both physician-assisted suicide – when doctors provide a lethal draught but do not administer it – and voluntary euathanasia, in which the doctor does the killing.

Just last year this medical group had a different view on this- neither supportive or against. I wonder what caused this change?

These were taken as separate votes, because some have suggested that are ethical distinctions between them. But both were rejected by almost equal majorities: physician-assisted suicide by 165 to 88, and voluntary euthanasia by 163 to 88.

88 votes for death.

Non-voluntary euthanasia – where the patient has no choice – was not surprisingly rejected by a much bigger margin, 236 to 16. Calls for the whole issue to be put to a ballot of the entire BMA membership were rejected.

This is murder, plain and simple, and obviously these doctors understand this now. The potential for abuse of this is astronomical.
I bet the docs saw this as well.

The result was a triumph for Care not Killing, an alliance of church, palliative care and disablement groups set up to counter attempts by Lord Joffe to change the law by introducing the Assisted Dying for the Terminally-Ill bill in the House of Lords. The bill was defeated, and now the alliance can claim credit for helping to reverse last year’s BMA vote.

Dr Peter Saunders, the alliance’s campaign director, said that he was delighted at the vote, which had brought the BMA back into line with the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of General Practitioners.

It shouldn’t be about taking credit for this…these people have some work ahead of them: They need to educate the public about the options people DO have to remain alive as long as possible with as little pain as possible. The diseases that cause some to want to die rather than live can be treated as well. I work with so many with these so called progressive illnesses. Its amazing what can be done.

He said he now expected the BMA to campaign actively against any further attempts to change the law.

Dr Michael Wilks, Chairman of the BMA Ethics Committee, said: “There was a very clear wish by the representatives to reverse policy. The BMA’s position is now one of opposition to any further legislation. If it is drawn up, we will oppose it.”

Good.

The debate was calm, but feelings strong. Dr John Fitton, a GP from Kettering, said: “I know that even today, people still die in undignified misery. Some die in places where the staff believe suffering is a good thing.”

Their needs for palliative care were not being met, he said, and they wanted the right to die. “It is inhuman and disgraceful that they have to be resourceful enough to travel to other countries for this enlightened service.”

Exactly. This is a MAJOR problem that CAN be corrected. It should be corrected and I’m surprised it hasn’t….even here in the US
we have these same issues. Medical people have a lot of work to do.

Dr Davies said that the greatest worry among his patients was not pain, but becoming a burden to their families. He feared that any “right to die” would soon become a “duty to die” by those wanting to unburden their families.

“People in the last days of their life should be supported, not under pressure to choose to die” he said.

I think this is the sole gist of this entire issue. I have seen it acted out in nursing homes across my area. Elderly people don’t want to become a “burden”— which is loosely defined so often by the family and not the person. Unintentionally, family do make their loved ones feel like a burden. It’s a shame. And people everywhere should be ashamed. If they are even aware of thinking these things. Most are not and most would deny it.