Doctors split over assisted dying issue
Otago Daily Times 27 April 2018
Family First Comment: 52% against. Only 32% for. But the ODT tries to suggest it’s an even split 😊
www.Protect.org.nz
The medical profession is split on the issue of assisted dying.
Just over half are opposed but a sizeable minority favour a law change.
New Zealand Doctor yesterday released results of a survey of subscribers, carried out as Parliament considers the End of Life Choice Bill.
That Bill, if passed, would permit people to request assistance in dying if they were competent and suffered from a terminal illness likely to end their life within six months, or had a grievous and irremediable medical condition.
The survey found 52% of doctors totally opposed assisted dying if death was imminent, while 32% supported it.
The numbers shifted slightly if the patient’s condition was irreversible but death was not imminent, with 56% opposed and 31% in favour.
The numbers did not surprise University of Otago law lecturer Colin Gavaghan, who has written extensively on the subject.
“The medical establishment has been anti all along, and when doctors are surrounded by those values, I guess a lot of them internalise them,” Dr Gavaghan said.
READ MORE: https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/doctors-split-over-assisted-dying-issue
