Royal Society of Medicine: Bill will violate fundamental principle

The president elect of the Royal Society of Medicine has argued that legalising assisted dying will violate the principle of "first do no harm".

The bill, being debated today in the House of Lords, "fundamentally changes the way doctors practice medicine and the way that those with distress are managed", professor of palliative care Baroness Finlay insisted.

She claimed there are "stark differences" between the British bill and the Oregon act on which it is based, pointing out it would authorise doctors not only to prescribe lethal drugs, but to "set up an intravenous line" in “‘appropriate’ cases".

The professor added: "If this bill were to be passed into law, the 'bright line' separating what doctors may and may not do would become a blurred one, inconsistently applied as between one doctor and another, and easily crossed."

Lord Joffe has since offered to remove the "appropriate cases" reference.