BMJ  2006;333:64 (8 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7558.64

News

Doctors backtrack on assisted suicide

Zosia Kmietowicz

London

Last year's decision by the BMA to adopt a neutral stance on the issue of physician assisted suicide lasted only 12 months. Zosia Kmietowicz looks at what changed doctors' minds

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

News that the BMA has reversed its stance on assisted suicide for the second time in two years, moving from the neutral view it adopted at last year's annual representatives' meeting to one of opposition this year will no doubt spark anger and relief in equal measure, if the debate leading up to this year's vote is anything to go by.


Figure Removed (Available Only in the Full Text)
 Dr Anne Turner travelled to Switzerland with her son and daughter in January 2006 so that she could end her life

Credit: JOHNY GREEN/PA/EMPICS

 

Representatives voted in Belfast by 65% (165 votes) to 35% (88) to oppose any change in the law on assisted suicide.

The turnaround is a victory for a campaign led by the group Care Not Killing, which is a coalition of more than 30 organisations opposed to physician assisted suicide. The group was launched in January this year, but doctors began work on setting it . . . [Full text of this article]


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Relevant Article

UK House of Lords rejects physician assisted suicide
Clare Dyer
BMJ 2006 332: 1169. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Bosshard, G, Broeckaert, B, Clark, D, Materstvedt, L J, Gordijn, B, Muller-Busch, H C (2008). A role for doctors in assisted dying? An analysis of legal regulations and medical professional positions in six European countries. J. Med. Ethics 34: 28-32 [Abstract] [Full text]  

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

It is the BMA and not doctors who have backtracked on assisted suicide
John C Chambers
bmj.com, 11 Jul 2006 [Full text]
Individual decision making as a solution?
Maurits Van den Noort, et al.
bmj.com, 21 Jul 2006 [Full text]
Re: Individual decision making as a solution?
Peter KK Au-Yeung
bmj.com, 23 Jul 2006 [Full text]
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