The Royal College of Nursing conference has just voted in favour of shifting the union's stance on "assisted suicide" from neutrality to supporting killing off patients. So it's good to remember that a very clear majority of UK doctors surveyed last year said they would refuse to help operate such a policy.
Last year, a survey of more than 1,000 doctors revealed that the majority (59 per cent) would not administer lethal drugs if assisted suicide was legalised.
According to Doctors.net.uk, of the 1,088 doctors asked if they would “provide information or have a discussion with a patient” about euthanasia or assisted suicide, 58 per cent agreed, with 31 per cent declining.
The most cited reasons for not wanting to introduce euthanasia or assisted suicide were to “protect vulnerable people from risk of coercion” and because the “focus should be on improving palliative care”.