The so-called assisted dying debate is again generating more heat than light. Once again, we have the British Medical Journal – which is not, as some may suppose, the house journal of the BMA – ranting and raving that the law needs to be changed. This is a long-standing obsession of the BMJ’s editorial staff. It is not the view of the BMA.
There are really two questions here. One is whether the law should be changed to license doctors to supply lethal drugs to terminally ill people for use in suicide. The other is what, if any, role doctors should play if the law were to be changed.
If any such law were to be built around specific medical conditions, doctors obviously would have a role to play. It would be for them to diagnose the patient’s condition, offer an opinion on its likely outcome and suggest possible treatment options.
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