Decades of experience as a GP working with terminally ill patients has convinced me that we need to change our laws on assisted dying. Like many doctors, I’ve been at too many bedsides to ignore the terrible suffering that can happen as a person dies. I’ve witnessed pain and distress that outreaches even the best palliative care. I agree with my friend Dame Esther Rantzen that people with terminal illness should have the assurance of knowing there’s a legal route to shorten their suffering, if they choose it.
Today, the Royal College of GPs has made a momentous decision of its own: voting to drop its longstanding public opposition to a change in the law. Before the vote, the RCGP had been the last remaining medical royal college in the UK opposed to assisted dying. Others – representing surgeons, anaesthetists, physicians, psychiatrists – have adopted more neutral positions in recent years, as has the British Medical Association.
Today’s vote completes a truly extraordinary shift in how the medical profession approaches assisted dying.
The RCGP’s decision is sensible and timely. The Isle of Man is perhaps just weeks away from passing an assisted dying law for terminally ill residents, while other safeguarded proposals are progressing in parliaments across the British Isles, including Kim Leadbeater MP’s bill at Westminster.
It looks increasingly likely that this reform will be coming to Britain.
When that happens, doctors in many branches of medicine will need practical, unbiased support to navigate the changes for themselves and their patients.
No doctor will be forced to participate in assisted dying, but all medical organisations will need to be respectful of those who do, and respectful of dying people who might want to explore this option.
In general practice, we need to be ready for terminally ill patients to raise questions about assisted dying in consultations. GPs will need guidance on the different ways we can ensure our patients are supported, wherever we stand personally on the principle of assisted dying.
By voting to drop its public opposition, the RCGP Council has brought itself to a place where all of these things are now possible.
Not every GP supports assisted dying, but many of us do, all over this country. I am delighted that RCGP now has a position where it can represent us all.
