Assisted dying: BMA surveys its members for first time

For the first time, the BMA is asking its members what position it should take on assisted dying. The results of the survey will be made available to BMA members ahead of this year’s annual representative meeting (ARM) in June. They will inform a debate and a vote at the meeting regarding the BMA’s policy position.

Since 2006 the BMA has opposed assisted dying in all forms.1 Its policy says that neither physician assisted suicide nor voluntary euthanasia should be made legal in the UK. In 2016, representatives at the association’s ARM rejected a motion calling on the BMA to adopt a neutral position.2

The BMA defines physician assisted dying as …