Letter to The Times on assisted dying

Dear Sir,

Neither your coverage [Doctors insist they are not neutral on assisted dying, 18 March] nor letter [Assisted Dying, 18 March] present an accurate picture of our survey.

We asked members a second question we hadn’t asked previously; what the RCGP should do if none of the three options - whether to oppose, to support, or to neither oppose nor support assisted dying being legal - received over 50% of the vote. This ended up being the case.

In response, 49.8% of members said the College should move to a position of neither supporting nor opposing assisted dying, while only 23.8% said the College should take the position with the highest number of votes (this would have meant retaining our longstanding opposition).

We understand GPs have strongly held and widely differing views about assisted dying, and we are sorry that some are unhappy with our new stance. However, the decision to move from our previous position of opposition was not taken lightly and was made after comprehensive and considered debate – both at local and national level - during which many views were heard and due process was followed.

Our new position allows us to represent the views of all of our members as we focus on ensuring that any changes to the law protect the interests of all patients and healthcare professionals, and that palliative care is appropriately resourced.

Professor Kamila Hawthorne,
Chair, Royal College of GPs
London NW1

Further information

RCGP press office: 0203 188 7659
press@rcgp.org.uk

Notes to editors

The Royal College of General Practitioners is a network of more than 54,000 family doctors working to improve care for patients. We work to encourage and maintain the highest standards of general medical practice and act as the voice of GPs on education, training, research and clinical standards.