BMA (the British Medical Association) in its annual conference in Bournemouth, rejected a motion moved by prof. Raymond Tallis (chairman of Healthcare Professionals for Assisted Dying, HPAD), to change its current (“morally repugnant”) position on (medically) assisted dying to neutral.A majority – with even one doctor likening it to murder [!] – unfortunately reiterated with this rejection BMA’s opposition to a change in the law. Doctor Hamish Meldrum, BMA’s outgoing President, said: “I think adopting a neutral position is probably the worst of all options. Neutrality does tend to exclude us from the argument, an argument which would have a huge bearing on the working lives of doctors”.
From a report in The Independent.co.uk (Ella Pickover, June 27, 2012). (do read the comments as well, RJ)