The physicians of the UK oppose euthanasia: with a vote at the British Medical Association, the professional organ that represents 130,000 British GPs has declared that it is contrary to any form of assisted suicide. Last year the same association had assumed a more neutral position on the question. A significant majority of medics, 84%, voted for an improvement of palliative treatments, while 65% voted against the legalization of assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia. 94% rejected involuntary euthanasia for patients who are unable to take a decision. The oncologist Andrew Davies motivated the vote against euthanasia as follows: “Many of my patients fear becoming a burden for their families. What worries me most is that the so-called right to die may become for them the duty to die”. “Last week’s vote at the British Medical Association is very important”, declared the spokesman of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. “It sends a clear message that the medical profession in the UK today is firmly opposed to any change of the law. We need better palliative treatments for the terminally ill”. Catholic dioceses and parishes have long been engaged in efforts to raise the awareness of the faithful on the defence of life from its conception to its natural end.
