Right To Life UK has welcomed news that the British Medical Association (BMA) is against the idea that assisted suicide is “medical treatment”.
At its annual representative meeting last month the BMA restated its position of neutrality on whether assisted suicide should or should not be legalised. However, the group did carry a motion specifying “that assisted dying is not a medical treatment”.
The BMA also said that, should assisted suicide become legal in the future, there must be conscience protections for medical professionals who refuse to take part in the process.
Earlier this year, Kim Leadbeater MP’s Private Member’s Bill to legalise assisted suicide failed after running out of parliamentary time. In the subsequent parliamentary session an identical bill was introduced by another Labour MP, Lauren Edwards.
Since 2000 there have been at least 10 attempts to bring some form assisted suicide into law, but all of them have failed. While polls generally show support for the principle of assisted suicide, that support often evaporates when voters are presented with the details of the proposals.
Concerns are often centred upon the lack of safeguards, with fears that victims of domestic abuse, army veterans facing hard times, those with eating disorders or treatable depression, or those with other vulnerabilities could all be pressured into suicide.
Supporters of assisted suicide have suggested using the Parliament Act to get the latest incarnation of assisted suicide onto the books without consulting the House of Lords. Such a move would be legal, but the powers are rarely used and it would be seen as highly contentious.
Labour itself is divided on the issue. Keir Starmer voted in favour of the Leadbeater bill while his then Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, voted against it.
Many Labour MPs are said to be unhappy with Edwards resurrecting the issue, arguing it makes the party look like it has the wrong priorities. The likely next leader of the Labour Party, Andy Burnham, is not seen as a strong supporter of the bill.
While Burnham has said he supports assisted suicide in principle, he has also said that it should not become legal until Britain’s patchy palliative care system is properly funded.
Catherine Robinson, spokesperson for Right To Life UK, said the BMA was "right to note that assisted suicide is not a medical treatment and that no doctor should be forced to assist a patient in ending his or her own life”.
“Many groups of experts, doctors, medical professionals, disability organisations, and Parliamentarians have all made clear that the bill is unsafe," she said.
"Forcing this unamended version of the bill into law using the Parliament Acts, as some of its supporters intend, would create legislation that places lives at risk, directly against the recommendations of these experts."
MPs are due to vote on the bill at Second Reading on 11 September.
