Royal College of GPs Drops Opposition to Assisted Suicide, Adopts Neutral Position

Care Not Killing said the decision was ‘disappointing, but unsurprising’ as doctors wrestle with how to respond to multiple attempts to change the law.

People take part in a demonstration to oppose the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill at Old Palace Yard in Westminster, London, on Nov. 29, 2024. Yui Mok/PA Wire

The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) has dropped its long-standing opposition to a change in the law on assisted suicide and has taken up a neutral position.

The RCGP, representing over 53,000 family doctors in the UK, announced on Friday that the decision had been made after 61 percent of its governing council voted to adopt a neutral stance.

Thirty-nine percent voted for the RCGP to maintain opposition, and none voted in favour of changing the law.

The council had formally adopted opposition to physician-assisted suicide in 2005, a stance which was reaffirmed in 2014 and again in 2020.

Chairwoman of the RCGP, Professor Kamila Hawthorne, said the move was made so the body can represent the diverse views of its members and patients.

Care Not Killing, a group which opposes euthanasia and promotes better palliative care, told The Epoch Times that the decision was “disappointing, but unsurprising as doctors’ groups continue to wrestle with how to respond to multiple attempts to introduce assisted suicide and euthanasia in the UK.”

The decision comes as a bill, covering England and Wales, to legalise assisted suicide for terminally ill adults is being scrutinised at committee stage in the House of Commons. Similar legislation is being considered in Scotland.

Strongly-Held Views

The RCGP’s decision followed a non-binding poll of its members, where 47.6 percent of GPs said the body should maintain its opposition, 13.6 percent favoured neutrality, and 33.7 percent backed the body formally supporting a change in the law.

Hawthorne said: “Today’s discussion and our recent survey of our members have clearly shown that GPs have widely differing and strongly-held views about assisted dying – we care deeply about our patients.

“This is a highly sensitive personal, societal and legislative issue, and we need to be in a position to represent the views of all of our members and patients; shifting to a position of neither opposing nor supporting assisted dying being legal will allow us to do this best.”

The RCGP chairwoman added that this shift to neutrality will not mean stepping back from the debate, as the body will continue to focus on how potential changes in the law will impact on GPs’ care for patients.

The college said that should assisted suicide be legalised, it would continue to advocate for the right of GPs to refuse to participate in the process; that it remains a “standalone service” separate to core general practice; and that it should not have a negative impact on the funding of palliative care services.

Care Not Killing CEO Gordon Macdonald said the decision “shines a light on the growing divide between those doctors who treat terminally ill patients and those who don’t.”

Macdonald referenced a British Medical Association (BMA) survey which found that when broken down by specialism, doctors working in palliative care and oncology remained opposed to a change in the law, while those working in other sectors like occupational health and child and adolescent mental health were in favour.

Kim Leadbeater (left)  and daughter of Esther Rantzen, Rebecca Wilcox (right)after hearing the result of the vote in parliament for her Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill in London, on Nov. 29, 2024. Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

In recent years, the Royal College of Surgeons of England and the BMA have moved from a position of opposition to neutrality.

The Royal College of Nursing has been neutral since 2009 and the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) said in 2019 it would maintain a position of neutrality until 60 percent of its members say the RCP should be in favour of or opposed to a change in the law.

Doctors ‘Deeply Concerned’

A committee of 26 MPs are undertaking line-by-line scrutiny of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.

Earlier this week, the committee voted to remove High Court approval of applications for assisted suicide in favour of replacing it with a panel.

The bill’s sponsor, Kim Leadbeater, said her proposed multidisciplinary panel—which will comprise of a senior legal figure, a social worker, and a psychiatrist—strengthens the bill “by adding more and varied expertise to the decision making process with judicial oversight.”

People take part in a demonstration to oppose the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill at Old Palace Yard in Westminster, London, on Nov. 29, 2024. Yui Mok/PA Wire

The committee has also rejected a number of other amendments which would have ensured extra protections for different groups of vulnerable people.

Macdonald said that most doctors who Care Not Killing have spoken to “are deeply concerned at what they have seen going on in Parliament, with key safeguards being removed from the Assisted Dying Bill, while additional measures to protect those who could be coerced into their lives prematurely, or with conditions such as Downs Syndrome or eating disorders such as anorexia, have been rejected by those pursuing an ideological agenda to allow the state sanctioned suicide.”