{"id":8687,"date":"2018-05-02T19:01:32","date_gmt":"2018-05-03T02:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=8687"},"modified":"2018-11-20T22:11:17","modified_gmt":"2018-11-21T06:11:17","slug":"world-medical-association-to-consider-policy-changes-on-abortion-euthanasia-assisted-suicide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=8687","title":{"rendered":"World Medical Association to consider policy changes on abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide"},"content":{"rendered":"

Debate planned for ethics conference in October in Iceland<\/h2>\n

Sean Murphy*<\/a><\/p>\n

Following a meeting of the WMA Council in Riga, Latvia, the WMA issued a statement<\/a> noting that a revised version of the WMA abortion policy would be presented for approval at the WMA annual General Assembly in Reykjavik, Iceland.<\/p>\n

In addition, the WMA has announced that there will be a further “open debate” on changing the Association’s policy against physician participation in euthanasia and assisted suicide.\u00a0 The debate will occur during a WMA conference on medical ethics taking place at the same time and place.\u00a0 Formal presentations on euthanasia and assisted suicide will be given on 4 October, 2018<\/a>, but informal discussions among delegates are likely to be important.\u00a0 The debate appears to be a consequence of lobbying by the Canadian and Royal Dutch Medical Associations<\/a> to convince the WMA to drop its condemnation of the practices<\/p>\n

It is not clear whether or not WMA members appreciate the relationship between abortion policy and euthanasia policy.\u00a0 Compulsory referral for abortion is essentially a dress rehearsal for compulsory referral for euthanasia and assisted suicide, something clearly demonstrated in Canada.\u00a0 Accusations of “patient abandonment” formerly aimed at those refusing to refer for abortion1 are now, in addition, being levelled at those who refuse to refer patients to someone willing to kill them or help them commit suicide.2<\/a><\/p>\n

In 2011, a Royal Society of Canada panel of experts chaired by Udo Schuklenk\u00a0 recommended legalization of assisted suicide and euthanasia.3<\/a>\u00a0 The experts insisted that health care professionals unwilling to provide euthanasia help patients commit suicide must refer them to someone willing to do so.4<\/a> This was justified, they said, because<\/em> it was agreed<\/em> that objectors are obliged to refer for “reproductive health services.”5<\/a>\u00a0 It really was not agreed: the Canadian Medical Association had, in fact, rejected this claim five years earlier6<\/a> after it was made by Jocelyn Downie,7<\/a> one of Schuklenk’s colleagues on the Royal Society Panel.<\/p>\n

By 2015 Schuklenk was arguing that objecting physicians should not be accommodated at all. Among his arguments was that referring for abortion or euthanasia is not a compromise because it involves moral complicity in the act, “barely reduced” by the act of referral.8<\/a>\u00a0 This implied that physicians should be forced to provide abortion and euthanasia, notwithstanding religious or conscientious convictions to the contrary, a position Schuklenk explicitly adopted over the next two years.9<\/a>, 10<\/a><\/p>\n

At the same time, Ottawa law professor Amir Attaran was insisting that physicians should be forced to kill eligible patients themselves.11<\/a> He claimed that this was required by human rights law,12<\/a> describing effective referral as an unacceptable form of illicit discrimination.13<\/a><\/p>\n

In considering changes to euthanasia, assisted suicide and abortion policies in October, WMA delegates will have to take great care to consider not only the most obvious ethical issues of life and death, but less obvious yet important issues like the distinction between acceptable cooperation and unacceptable collaboration, which play out in disputes about mandatory referral for abortion and euthanasia.<\/p>\n

\n

Notes<\/strong>
\n<\/a>1.\u00a0 “According to the prevailing norm of beneficence therefore, as well as those of trust, patient autonomy, and not abandoning patients, physicians should refer patients for abortions.”\u00a0 McLeod C. Referral in the Wake of Conscientious Objection to Abortion.\u00a0<\/a>Hypatia, Vol. 23, No. 4 (October-December, 2008) at p. 36 (Accessed 2018-08-022).<\/p>\n

<\/a>2.\u00a0 Cook M. Canadian court tells doctors they must refer for euthanasia<\/a>. Mercatornet, 2 February, 2018<\/p>\n

<\/a>3. Schuklenk U, van Delden JJM, Downie J, McLean S, Upshur R, Weinstock D. Report of the Royal Society of Canada Expert Panel on End-of-Life Decision Making<\/em><\/a> (November, 2011)[“Royal Society<\/em>“] p. 96 (Accessed 2014-02-23).<\/p>\n

<\/a>4.\u00a0 Royal Society<\/em>, p. 69, 101.<\/p>\n

<\/a>5.\u00a0 Royal Society<\/em>, p. 62.<\/p>\n

<\/a>6.\u00a0 Blackmer J. Clarification of the CMA\u2019s position on induced abortion<\/a>. CMAJ April 24, 2007 vol. 176 no. 9 doi: 10.1503\/cmaj.1070035 (Accessed 2017-12-12).<\/p>\n

<\/a>7.\u00a0 Rodgers S. Downie J. Abortion: Ensuring Access.<\/a> CMAJ July 4, 2006 vol. 175 no. 1 doi: 10.1503\/cmaj.060548 (Accessed 2017-12-12).<\/p>\n

<\/a>8.\u00a0 Schuklenk, U. Conscientious objection in medicine: private ideological convictions must not supercede public service obligations (2015) 29:5 Bioethics ii, DOI: 10.1111\/bioe.12167<\/p>\n

<\/a>9.\u00a0 Schuklenk U, Smalling R. Why medical professionals have no claim to conscientious objection accommodation in liberal democracies (2016) 43:4 J Med Ethics 234, DOI: http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1136\/medethics-2016-103560.<\/p>\n

<\/a>10. Savulescu J, Schuklenk U. Doctors have no right to refuse medical assistance in dying, abortion or contraception (2017) 31:3 Bioethics 162, DOI: 10.1111\/bioe.12288<\/p>\n

<\/a>11.\u00a0 Though conceding that a lethal drug might be administered in the physician\u2019s presence by a delegate, and that referral might be necessitated by technical incompetence. Attaran A. The Limits of Conscientious and Religious Objection to Physician-Assisted Dying after the Supreme Court\u2019s Decision in Carter v Canada<\/em> (2016 ) 36:3 Health L Can 86 [“Attaran<\/em>“], p. 87-88, 96.<\/p>\n

<\/a>12.\u00a0 “[W]hen a doctor refuses to assist a patient who is disabled by a ‘grievous and irremediable medical condition’, just because the patient wants death rather than something else, that arguably discriminates against the disabled patient.” Attaran<\/em>, p. 89.<\/p>\n

<\/a>13.\u00a0 Attaran<\/em>, p. 91\u201393.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Debate planned for ethics conference in October in Iceland Sean Murphy* Following a meeting of the WMA Council in Riga, Latvia, the WMA issued a statement noting that a revised version of the WMA abortion policy would be presented for approval at the WMA annual General Assembly in Reykjavik, Iceland. In addition, the WMA has … Continue reading “World Medical Association to consider policy changes on abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5432,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,77,4,5,162,40,9],"tags":[2078,572,1197,293,1421,1466,368],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-8687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abortion","category-assisted-suicide","category-commentary","category-ethics","category-euthanasia","category-international","category-news","tag-amir-attaran","tag-canadian-medical-association","tag-jocelyn-downie","tag-referral","tag-royal-dutch-medical-association","tag-udo-schuklenk","tag-world-medical-association-wma"],"yoast_head":"\r\nWorld Medical Association to consider policy changes on abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide - Protection of Conscience Project News<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=8687\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"World Medical Association to consider policy changes on abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide - Protection of Conscience Project News\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Debate planned for ethics conference in October in Iceland Sean Murphy* Following a meeting of the WMA Council in Riga, Latvia, the WMA issued a statement noting that a revised version of the WMA abortion policy would be presented for approval at the WMA annual General Assembly in Reykjavik, Iceland. 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