At its 194th WMA Council Session in Bali, Indonesia, the WMA, reaffirming a number of earlier resolutions and affirmations (from 1987 onwards to 2005), resolved that
· it reaffirms its strong belief that euthanasia is in conflict with basic ethical principles of medical practice, and
· strongly encourages all National Medical Associations and physicians to refrain from participating in euthanasia, even if national law allows it or decriminalizes it under certain conditions.
Since a more positive attitude of medical professionals towards the objectives of the right to die would be helpful to progress towards legalisation of physician assisted death (as was the case in the Netherlands), such resolution is detrimental to our ambitions and should be challenged.
The text of the resolution can be found here.
Information on WMA
The WMA is the umbrella for over a 100 National Medical Associations, representing physicians from some 90 countries around the world.
The WMA provides a forum for its member associations to communicate freely, to co-operate actively, to achieve consensus on high standards of medical ethics and professional competence, and to promote the professional freedom of physicians worldwide.
More information on their website www.