It seems like every day there is a new push to legalise euthanasia in the UK. This week, Prue Leith has called on parliament to debate euthanasia before the next general election. Keir Starmer has said that he is committed to allowing a vote on assisted dying if Labour gain power. And in Holyrood, the Liberal Democrats have put forward a Bill which would decriminalise euthanasia in Scotland if passed.
It is physicians who will have to be at the heart of the legally sanctioned killing process
Often when euthanasia is debated, the focus is on the terminally ill and the impacts on wider society – which would certainly be profound. But one group of people tend to be overlooked, even though they would have to be at the heart of any euthanasia programme: the doctors who would have to administer the ‘treatment’.
Ever since the creation of the Hippocratic code with its injunction ‘First, do no harm’, doctors have been dedicated to preserving human life.
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