The BMA and their stance on Euthanasia

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The BMA and their stance on Euthanasia
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What is the BMA?
With over 139,000 members, representing
practising doctors in the UK and overseas and
medical students, the BMA is the voice of the
profession and students.
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Whats their opinion?

• At the latest conference, doctors voted against
  supporting legalisation of voluntary euthanasia
• This was in contradiction to the previous year
  when the majority had indicated they would
  support the legalisation of voluntary euthanasia

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Why?

• It goes against their traditional and
  trusted role to heal and save lives
• Before starting their profession, doctors
  take Hippocratic Oath. They make a promise to do
  their best to heal and save lives. This is what
  they are trained to do and so euthanasia, as it
  is taking life, goes against this Oath.

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Protection of the Vulnerable

• Law against euthanasia protects everyone in
  society.
  Individual situations cannot override the general
  protection of society. Elderly, lonely and sick
  might feel pressurised to request it e.g. Feel
  they would be a burden to their family

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• This would also lead to people losing trust in
  their doctors will they really do all they can
  to save their lives?
• Will the doctor decide they are too ill/ too old/
  too disabled to be worth saving and encourage
  them to ask for euthanasia when they maybe dont
  really wish to die yet

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Abuse of the Law

• How could the law, if it were passed, be
  regulated. How could we be sure that doctors or
  family members would not abuse the system and say
  that the patient had requested euthanasia?
• Therefore they do not support it and any action
  such as double effect or withdrawal of treatment
  has to be accountable to the Law.

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Right to care, not death

• The BMA consider that a patient has a clear right
  to care and assistance while dying but NOT a
  right to insist that a doctor helps them end
  their life.

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Refusal of Treatment

• However the BMA does support that a doctor should
  follow a patients wishes if he requests that his
  life is not prolonged by treatment that he does
  not wish.
• They respect the right of the patient to refuse
  life prolonging or sustaining medical treatment.
• However they agree that doctors should not
  actively intervene to end a life.

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Improve Palliative Care

• The profession recognises that it must continue
  to seek ever improving palliative care rather
  than turning to assisted suicide.
• Palliative care is pain relieving treatment aimed
  at improving the life you have by dealing with
  some of the symptoms of your illness, rather than
  curing it.

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Withdrawal of Treatment

• The BMA does not, however, believe that it is
  right to prolong life at all costs with no regard
  to quality of life.
• Modern technology has allowed us to prolong but
  not always reverse a condition. In these
  circumstances when the continuation of treatment
  causes burdens that are greater than benefits
  then the BMA would accept that life support
  machines or other treatment could be withdrawn.