Senior consultant physicians in Britain slammed Labour MP Kim Leadbeater’s euthanasia bill, urging conscience protections via an ‘opt-in model’ and a full separation of assisted suicide provision from NHS healthcare services.
(LifeSiteNews) -- In September 2021, the British Medical Association – the U.K.’s trade union for doctors – dropped its opposition to euthanasia and voted to take a neutral stance on “physician-assisted dying.”
That fact makes a motion passed at the BMA’s annual consultants’ conference last week all the more extraordinary, especially as the Leadbeater committee on assisted suicide makes daily headlines as safeguard after safeguard is voted down.
The Spectator broke the story on March 10, reporting that at the conference “senior doctors vote upon motions relating to issues that either impact or are likely to impact health services in the U.K.”
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The South Regional consultants' committee proposed Motion 46, stating that Labour MP Kim Leadbeater’s assisted suicide bill would create “serious potential moral hazards for consultants, and serious potential adverse impacts on health services.” (Other groups have been making this argument throughout the process but have been almost entirely ignored by the Leadbeater committee.)
Motion 46 states that if the Leadbeater bill were to become law, the BMA must make clear to the government that, first:
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, or refer patients for it.
In short, medical professionals want to be absolutely certain that the conscience rights of those who morally oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide are not violated. This is likely in response to an ongoing debate in Canada about the “right to referral” as well as the euthanasia supporters on the Leadbeater committee affirming that assisted suicide can or should be proactively brought up to patients.
Part two of Motion 46 states further that:
Assisted dying is not a health activity and it must not take place in NHS or other health facilities, and assisted dying providers must be employed under separate contractual arrangements.
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Motion 46 was passed at the BMA consultants’ conference in its entirety. As the Spectator noted, “So, there we have it: senior NHS Consultants believe the Leadbeater Bill presents both ‘serious moral hazards to consultants’ and could have ‘serious potential adverse impacts’ on health services in the U.K.”
But it is notable that the BMA went further here: they stated, contrary to the constant assertions of the euthanasia and suicide activists, that assisted dying is not a health activity. This is not quite a repudiation of their 2021 neutrality – and this was a consultants’ conference – but to pass that motion at this time sends a potent message to the stacked Leadbeater committee that top medical figures are not happy with what they see unfolding.
As Dan Hitchens noted recently, the Leadbeater committee has selectively chosen witnesses that affirm their preferred results. They invited nine lawyers, six who support euthanasia, three who were “neutral,” and eight other witnesses, all of whom were supporters. Not invited were those who, like the BMA consultants’ conference, oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide, including The British Geriatrics Society, Standing Together Against Domestic Abuse, and dozens of other experts.
There is still time to stop Leadbeater’s catastrophic bill at third reading. If you are in the U.K., consider getting involved here. There will be only once chance to stop this bill.
