Maintaining medical opposition

Healthcare professionals have long been opposed to legalising practices which their experiences tell them are uncontrollable, unethical and unnecessary. None of the major medical bodies have contradicted this view and a change in the law is formally opposed by the Association for Palliative Medicine, the British Geriatric Society and the World Medical Association.

A 2019 membership consultation found opposition remained the most favoured stance among members of the Royal College of Physicians, which adopted a neutral position but clarified ‘that it does not support a change in the law to permit assisted dying at the present time,’ noting that ‘professional and clinical issues pose significant challenges to the success of any future legislation’ and that ‘the majority of doctors would be unwilling to participate actively in assisted dying if the law were changed to permit it.’

The Council of the Royal College of General Practitioners moved the RCGP to neutrality in March 2025 despite opposition remaining the most-preferred option of members (47.6%, up from 46%; over 50% if undecideds are excluded) while the proportion wanting the College to support a change in the law had fallen markedly (33.7%, down from 41% in 2019).

The Royal Colleges of Nursing, of Surgeons of England, of Psychiatrists* and of Anaesthetists, are neutral; the Royal Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow*, and of Physicians of Edinburgh*, have no specific position (*confirmed 2021 in response to the McArthur consultation).

The British Medical Association (BMA) surveyed members on “physician-assisted dying” (which it used to refer to both euthanasia and assisted suicide) in 2020. Support for a change in the law was highest among those least involved in the treatment of patients (medical students and retirees) while opposition rose in line with proximity to dying patients (palliative medicine doctors, geriatricians, GPs and respiratory specialists.) The BMA adopted a motion of neutrality on “physician-assisted dying” by just four votes in 2021.