Legalising assisted suicide in England and Wales “is a further major erosion of the soul and conscience of medicine”, according to a leading pro-life medical doctor. Source: Crux.
Labour MP Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was approved by the UK Parliament on November 29 by a vote of 330 in favour to 275 against.
The bill passing is only the first stage in the House of Commons, and it will be months before it can be passed into law.
Calum Miller, a medical doctor and a research fellow at the University of Oxford specialising in bioethics, said legalising assisted suicide “would, of course, have serious repercussions for doctors who decide not to take part at all, since the bill contains a right to refer onwards for a discussion about suicide.”
“This could see a major exodus of healthcare professionals from medicine, which would devastate our already stretched healthcare system,” he Dr Miller said.
Euthanasia and assisted suicide are illegal under English, Welsh and Northern Irish law and is considered manslaughter or murder.
In Scotland, there is no specific legislation, but people can be prosecuted for murder if they are involved.
The bill initiated by Ms Leadbeater allows terminally ill adults aged 18 or over the right to request medically assisted suicide.
The Association for Palliative Medicine of Great Britain and Ireland issued a statement noting the vast majority of its members opposed “assisted dying” and the organisation opposed the way the Leadbeater bill was proposed.
The APM cited concerns about the protection of vulnerable, frail, elderly, disabled and terminally ill people; the lack of adequately funded and equally available specialist palliative care services in all areas in the UK; and concerns about trust and the impact on doctor-patient relationships.
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Assisted suicide in UK might cause ‘a major exodus of healthcare professionals’ (By Charles Collins, Crux)
