If the public supports assisted dying, so should doctors like me

The Royal College of GPs blatant ignoring of its members and the public is both arrogant and regressive

A survey of the Royal College of GPs (RCGP) has today revealed a dramatic shift in opinion on assisted dying among members – and yet the college has decided to remain opposed to any change in the law to let terminally ill people die on their own terms.

As a GP, I am astonished by this decision by my representative body. The proportion of GPs who feel the college should be opposed to assisted dying has plummeted from 77% to 47% since the last survey in 2013, while those who think the college should support it shot up from 5% to 40%. Over half of respondents voted for the RCGP to drop its current opposition. The only fair position for the RCGP to take is neutrality.

This was the position taken last year by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), of which I am also a member, after a survey found a clear range of views on assisted dying among its membership. The RCP joined the Royal Colleges of Nursing, Medicine, Psychiatrists, Radiologists, Anaesthetists and medical organisations around the world which campaign neither for nor against law change, yet still manage to contribute constructively to this important debate. There is no reason why the RCGP should not follow suit.

For the college to blatantly ignore the will of its members, the increasing consensus among medical organisations and overwhelming public support for assisted dying is not just arrogant – it is regressive. The vast majority of Britons see that the country’s blanket ban on assisted dying is not working: why else would 84% support a change to allow assisted dying as an option for terminally ill, mentally competent adults?

Not only do I support the principle of patients having greater autonomy over their death, I also see the potential dangers of doctors having a monopoly on their patients’ health. I was the medical advisor to the Shipman Inquiry, a case that exemplified what can happen when a doctor’s power goes unchecked. I firmly believe that an assisted dying law with clear safeguards would provide better protections for patients.

Under the status quo, terminally ill patients in the UK are resorting to drastic measures at home and abroad with no protections at all. I don’t know how any doctor can be happy to let dying people suffer when palliative care can no longer help, or turn a blind eye to a patient flying to Switzerland or ending their own lives behind closed doors. Yet if the UK were to introduce legislation similar to Oregon’s – which has been in place for over 20 years, and been adopted by nine other US jurisdictions, two Australian states and soon likely New Zealand – we could not only empower our terminally ill patients, but also bring the issues involved in doing so out into the open to be properly scrutinised.

The RCGP has no right to tell society the law is working, when it clearly isn’t. The BMA is currently surveying its members on assisted dying for the first time. I hope they reject the RCGP’s approach and instead look at this debate in a compassionate, rational way, acknowledging the range of views within the profession and putting patients’ voices first.

Aneez Esmail is a professor of general practice at the University of Manchester.