Nearly half of UK doctors think that a physician-assisted dying law ‘would negatively impact the medical profession’, a new survey has found.
More than 1,000 General Medical Council-registered doctors responded to an online survey last month, which asked for their views on whether physician-assisted dying should be legalised and explored to what extent they would be prepared to be involved in the process.
Around 48% of respondents were against the legalisation, while nearly 45% said they supported the prospect. Some 47% said a physician-assisted dying law would negatively impact the medical profession.
The survey, which spanned seven days and was conducted by Doctors.net.uk, found that concerns among those opposed included ‘a risk of undermining trust’ between doctors and patients, conflict with colleagues, ‘increased administrative workload’ and ‘a change to the ethos of medicine’.
In addition, the survey asked how involved in the process doctors would be willing to be, should physician-assisted dying be legalised.
It found that almost a third of doctors would be ‘unwilling to provide information or have a discussion with a patient’ about it.
‘Nearly six in 10 (58%) said they would provide information or have a discussion with a patient about it, with three in 10 unwilling to do so. A minority of respondents said they would be willing to go further by either prescribing or administering lethal drugs,’ the survey report said.
The two most popular reasons against legalising physician-assisted dying given by the survey’s responders were ‘to protect vulnerable people from risk of coercion’, and because the ‘focus should be on improving palliative care’.
Among those responding in support, more than nine in 10 said the reasons they held that view were ‘to prevent suffering’ and ‘to give patients dignity in their final days’.
More than a quarter (26%) thought legalising physician-assisted dying would have a positive impact on the medical profession, but nearly half (47%) thought the opposite. One in 10 (11%) believed it would have a neutral impact, while 16% were unsure.
Physician-assisted dying is currently an offence in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, a person assisting in a suicide can be prosecuted under related crimes such as murder.
A new law is expected to be proposed in Scotland, and at Westminster, the Health and Social Care Committee is preparing to publish findings from its inquiry into assisted dying/assisted suicide.
A BMA survey in 2020 found that GPs were ‘generally more opposed’ to physician-assisted dying than other doctors.
And in 2021, the BMA said it would move to a neutral stance on physician-assisted dying.
A version of this article was originally published by our sister publication Pulse.
