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RCGP

RCGP remains opposed to assisted suicide and euthanasia

February 28, 2020 Written by End of Life , Medical Practice

The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) announced last Friday [21 February] that it ‘will continue to oppose a change in the law on assisted dying, following a consultation of its members’. (Assisted dying is a blanket term that covers assisted suicide, physician-assisted suicide, voluntary […]

license-to-kill

Conflicted, but not neutral

November 4, 2019 Written by End of Life

The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) moved its public stance on assisted suicide from opposition to neutrality in March 2019. Last weekend the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) launched a poll of its members, and over the coming months, the British Medical Association (BMA) […]

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A stark warning to UK doctors from Canada

March 11, 2019 Written by End of Life , Medical Practice , Start of Life

A recent legal ruling in Canada is a strong warning for British medical professionals who conscientiously object to involvement in abortion, or who would do so with assisted suicide if it were ever legalised. In 2018 the Ontario Superior Court ruled that healthcare professionals who […]

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The risks of neutrality on assisted suicide – lessons from abroad

February 19, 2019 Written by End of Life

Medicine has held a long-established opposition to assistance with suicide. Ira Byock, an American Palliative care physician, believes this is necessary so that:  ‘the power of medicine is not used against vulnerable people’. One of the roles of medicine is the need to balance our […]

license-to-kill

Why the Royal College of Physicians will go ‘neutral’ on assisted suicide and why that matters

January 16, 2019 Written by End of Life

The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is going to poll its 35,000 members to ask whether ‘they would help a terminally ill patient to die and whether the law should be changed to allow assisted dying.’ Why, despite the RCP polling all its members just […]