Evidence-Based Law-Making on Voluntary Assisted Dying

The law looks at assisted dying.

THE CONTROVERSY IGNITES The Society for the Legalisation of Voluntary Euthanasia was founded in 1935 by a group of eminent medical and clerical practitioners and held its first meeting in BMA House. These origins seem improbable in the light of the current attitude of both professions to assisted dying, but the new Society was enthusiastic and introduced its first Private Member ’s Bill in the ...

Should the law on assisted dying be changed? Yes.

The case for legalising assisted dying for people with terminal illness is easily stated. Unbearable suffering, prolonged by medical care, and inflicted on a dying patient who wishes to die, is unequivocally a bad thing. It is one of the fundamental principles of medicine that you should be allowed to determine what is in your own best interest when you are of sound mind. Nobody else’s views sh...

Supreme Court mulls delay of assisted-dying law.

Assisted dying.

Professor Finlay is absolutely right that GPs’ opinions are vitally important in the assisted dying debate, and that it is important for the College to have a view on this issue.1 Physician-assisted suicide would involve GPs in assessing requests for assisted suicide and would also require GPs to prescribe lethal doses of medication. It would also be highly stressful for GPs, as seen in the Net...

RCGP's position on the Assisted Dying Bill.

conclusion being Friday afternoons would be the period for low-threshold prescribing. Reasons behind this include the fact that patients seen on Fridays have the weekend to potentially become even more unwell;3 making it appropriate to prescribe before the weekend. There is also the idea that some physicians prescribe on Fridays so their patients will not make use of other doctors or walk-in ce...