GPs will be consulted on whether the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) should change its position on assisted dying, which it currently opposes.
When RCGP’s members were last consulted in 2013, a majority said the college should not change its stance. However, only a small fraction of doctors responded to oppose advocating any change in the law. On Saturday, the college’s governing council decided that another consultation should take place.
Assisted dying is illegal in the UK. It is legally available under various conditions in five European countries including Belgium and Switzerland, as well as in Canada and six US states.
The RCGP, which has 53,000 members, said details of how the consultation will take place would be made public in due course and its chairwoman recognised it was a divisive issue.
“Assisted dying is an incredibly emotive issue that polarises opinions,” said the RCGP’s Prof Helen Stokes-Lampard. “It has been nearly six years since we asked our members whether we should support a change in the law on assisted dying – since then, it is possible that views within our membership have shifted
“As such, the RCGP Council has decided that the time is right to conduct this consultation, and we will be issuing further details of how we will do this in due course.”
In a supreme court ruling in July last year, a court order no longer has to be requested to withdraw life support from patients in a vegetative or minimally conscious state if doctors and relatives agree that it is in their best interests.
In March, the Royal College of Physicians dropped its opposition to changing the law on assisted dying and took a neutral stance on the issue after a poll of almost 7,000 doctors did not return a majority view.
More than 90% of the UK’s population believe assisted dying should be legal for people with terminal illnesses, a poll of 2,500 respondents suggested this year. Doctors found guilty of helping someone to die in the UK can be jailed for up to 14 years.
