Assisted dying case ‘stronger than ever’ with majority of doctors now in support
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By Paul Gallagher
The case for assisted dying is ‘stronger than ever’, according to the British Medical Journal (BMJ) as a new poll reveals most UK doctors support it.
A survey of 733 medics on doctors.net.uk found 55 per cent agreed or strongly agreed with the proposition. Some 43 per cent were against assisted dying and two per cent had no opinion.
‘The current disconnect between BMA policy and the views of doctors and patients undermines the BMA’s credibility, and its continuing opposition excludes it from the public debate.’
Jacky Davis, Consultant Radiologist, Whittington Hospital London
The poll, which ran for ten days last October, asked whether doctors agreed that assisted dying should be made legal in defined circumstances. The number of doctors who responded is more than double the 313 British Medical Association members who voted on BMA policy at its 2016 annual meeting.
Yet the BMA, which represents UK doctors, has long been officially opposed to assisted dying, despit...
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