The Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI) has reiterated its opposition to the introduction of any legislation supportive of assisted suicide in Ireland “because it is contrary to best medical practice”.
Its statement comes following yesterday’s release of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Assisted Dying’s report which recommended that Government legislate for assisted suicide in Ireland.
The RCPI’s position was adopted by its governing council in 2017 and was based on a review carried out on research literature and the positions of medical professional bodies in Ireland and worldwide. Another review was carried out in 2021 before the RCPI shared its report and gave testimony to the Oireachtas committee.
The RCPI includes over 13,000 doctors and is the largest postgraduate medical training college in the country.
President of the RCPI, Dr Diarmuid O’Shea said that death and dying are part of a “continuum of care” for those with a chronic or life limiting illness.
“Dying with dignity in our society is made possible by the delivery of compassionate, supportive, and expert care by physicians, nurses, health and social care professionals, and others working in hospitals, hospices, GP practices, and other community settings across our country. Such care and the people providing it should be appropriately supported and funded,” he said.
Meanwhile, palliative medicine consultant and chair of the RCPI’s expert group, Dr Feargal Twomey said that legislating for assisted suicide “threatens to undermine” the care efforts of palliative care teams, families and friends of those suffering and of society as a whole.
“Introduction of legislation on assisted suicide has the potential for immense harm and unintended consequences and our view is that the potential harms outweigh the arguments in favour of legislation for assisted suicide,” Dr Twomey warned.
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First do no harm. If mentally challenged people like Gino Kenny is going to stand in front of a medical professional and say he knows better, all respect for common sense is no more.
Good. I’m a retired doctor. I certainly would never have agreed to be involved in this and to be honest I don’t know anyone who would. In my opinion if you volunteer for this you should be struck off the medical register.
As the Canadian Physicians said, when told they would be killing mentally retarded people, who can’t legally ‘consent’ to a ‘suicide’…. we became medical doctors to save lives, not to take them away!