British Medical Association votes to affirm that ‘assisted dying’ is not health care

The British Medical Association voted last week, affirming that assisted suicide is not health care. According to an article in the UK Spectator, Motion 46 was proposed by the South Regional Consultants committee, and warned in no uncertain terms that Great Britain’s Assisted Dying Bill poses “serious potential moral hazards for consultants (healthcare providers) and serious potential adverse impacts on health services.” 

The motion included two main parts, the first outlining that if an assisted suicide bill is to pass…

An opt-in model is adopted for providers, and no consultant shall be expected to be involved in any part of the assisted dying process, including having no obligation to either suggest assisted dying to patients, nor refer patients for it.

The second section of the motion affirms:

Assisted dying is not a health activity and it must not take place in NHS (National Health Service) or other health facilities, and assisted dying providers must be employed under separate contractual arrangements.

Both sections of the motion were passed by the British Medical Association. Now, Parliament is ready for a third reading of the assisted suicide bill, which to date has not seen any amendments to tighten the language around assisted death.

This motion comes just six months after a “citizens jury” in the UK released a report in support of the pro-death legalization. The jury was supposedly “non-partisan” but it was funded by a trust that supports assisted suicide and consisted of members who have ties to pro-assisted suicide campaigns, according to sources. 

READ: Report: Pro-death groups paid tens of thousands to Scottish MP backing ‘assisted dying’ bill

Meanwhile, even advocates and former advocates for assisted suicide recognize the dangers of such legislation. Theo Boer, a professor of health care ethics at Protestant Theological University, said, “I have seen no jurisdiction in which the practice has not expanded, not one single jurisdiction.”

Boer initially supported legalizing assisted death in the Netherlands and was even a member of the Dutch euthanasia review committee, but has since changed his position and now speaks out against legalizing euthanasia in other countries. “It was no longer the last exception, the last resort,” Boer says of euthanasia, adding it’s become “more and more a default way to die.”

As Boer has warned, assisted suicide is not only becoming a “popular” way people are electing to kill themselves, it also – like abortion – is in direct oppostion to the function and purpose of health care. For centuries, health care has been — or was supposed to have been — about the restoration of health, wellness, and life in people who are sick or broken. The oldest code of medical ethics, the Hippocratic Oath, says:

I will use those dietary regimens which will benefit my patients according to my greatest ability and judgment, and I will do no harm or injustice to them. Neither will I administer a poison to anybody when asked to do so, nor will I suggest such a course. Similarly I will not give to a woman a pessary to cause abortion. But I will keep pure and holy both my life and my art. I will not use the knife, not even, verily, on sufferers from stone, but I will give place to such as are craftsmen therein.

While our medical abilities have advanced, our moral code has fallen far.