Survey of British doctors fails to change policy on assisted dying
by Michael Cook | 7 Mar 2020 | 1 comment
The cause of assisted dying in Britain hit a speed bump late last month. After surveying its members, the Royal College of General Practitioners declared that it will continue to oppose a change in the law.
Only about 13% of the RCGP’s 50,000 members responded. Of these, 47% said that the RCGP should oppose a change in the law on assisted dying; 40% supported a change; and 11% supported neutrality. (About 2% abstained.)
The RCGP’s Council agreed that the survey results did not support a change in the College's existing position on assisted dying. It also decided that it will not review its position for at least five years unless there are significant developments.
Professor Martin Marshall, the RCGP’s Chair, commented: "As the UK's largest medical Royal College it is important that we engage in debate and listen to what our members have to say on wide-ranging issues affecting GPs and their patients…
"The role of the College now is to ensure that patients receive the best possible palliative and end of life care.”
A spokesman for Dying in Dignity, the UK’s leading lobby for assisted suicide, pointed out that the combined vote of doctors who supported a change and doctors who supported neutrality was 51%. “Not only is it wrong for the RCGP to fail to represent the wide range of perspectives held by their members, it is inexcusable to continue to obstruct the introduction of a tried and tested healthcare option so consistently supported by their patients,” he said.
Michael Cook is the editor of BioEdge
Milan is in the grip of an epidemic. Towns have been quarantined. Public gatherings have been cancelled. The streets are empty. Incompetent public officials are trying to dampen mounting hysteria. Dark rumours are circulating. Hospital wards are overflowing.
The coronavirus?
No, the Great Plague of 1630 in which perhaps a million (1,000,000) people died. About two hundred and fifty (250) have died so far in Italy’s coronavirus outbreak. That figure alone should immunise you against nostalgia for the Good Old Days. The panic and suffering of the citizens of Milan during the bubonic plague -- who also had to cope with a drought, a famine and the Thirty Years’ War -- make coronavirus seem like a Sunday summer picnic.
There’s a dearth of good news about the panic, illness, death and economic disruption of the world’s coronavirus epidemic. The only positive I can think of is that it may send people back to the Great Italian Novel, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed), which was published by Alessandro Manzoni in 1827. The climax of its complicated plot is a vivid description of the Great Plague.
If you want to be thankful for dodging a bullet by being born 400 years later than the events he described, dive into Chapters 31, 32 and 33. There are a number of instructive parallels with current events.
The coronavirus?
No, the Great Plague of 1630 in which perhaps a million (1,000,000) people died. About two hundred and fifty (250) have died so far in Italy’s coronavirus outbreak. That figure alone should immunise you against nostalgia for the Good Old Days. The panic and suffering of the citizens of Milan during the bubonic plague -- who also had to cope with a drought, a famine and the Thirty Years’ War -- make coronavirus seem like a Sunday summer picnic.
There’s a dearth of good news about the panic, illness, death and economic disruption of the world’s coronavirus epidemic. The only positive I can think of is that it may send people back to the Great Italian Novel, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed), which was published by Alessandro Manzoni in 1827. The climax of its complicated plot is a vivid description of the Great Plague.
If you want to be thankful for dodging a bullet by being born 400 years later than the events he described, dive into Chapters 31, 32 and 33. There are a number of instructive parallels with current events.
 Michael Cook Editor BioEdge |  |  |  |
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