Response to DPPs' consultation on Assisted Suicide

The GMC has responded to the consultation documents from the Directors of Public Prosecution for England and Wales and for Northern Ireland, explaining why the GMC does not take a position on assisted suicide. Our letter to the DPPs said:

Interim Policy for Prosecutors in respect of Cases of Assisted Suicide

We have read and considered your consultation documents on the factors to be considered when making decisions about prosecuting cases under the Suicide Act 1961. However, we have decided not to respond to the specific questions raised in the consultation drafts.

There are two principal reasons for this. First, the Medical Act 1983 (as amended) provides powers for the GMC to give advice to the medical profession on standards of professional conduct, performance and on medical ethics. We do this through our core guidance Good Medical Practice and our supporting guidance on issues of professional conduct including confidentiality, consent, involvement in research and other issues.

Our guidance is consistent with the law, but does not describe or interpret the law for doctors. Our guidance in Good Medical Practice advises doctors to keep up to date with and to observe the laws that affect their practice. We expect doctors to follow this advice in relation to the Suicide Act 1961 and to seek legal advice if they are unsure of their obligations under the law.

Secondly, the GMC does not have a position – even one of neutrality - on matters dealt with in statute or criminal law such as abortion, euthanasia or assisted suicide.

While our policies and guidance are binding on doctors and thus have a profound effect on patients and the public, our processes for forming policy and developing guidance are not equivalent to the parliamentary process, and are not appropriate to forming public policy. We cannot provide an alternative to the parliamentary process in gauging what society would find acceptable in ethically and legally contentious areas such as euthanasia and assisted dying.  Our role is as the regulator, acting in the public interest. We are not a ‘think-tank’ or a representative body: and we do not represent the views or interests of doctors or patients.

As a result, we have no freestanding policy position on which to base an assessment of whether particular factors should be considered in making decisions about whether to bring a prosecution where it appears that the Act may have been breached.

Doctors are of course free to express personal views about this issue, provided that they work within the law and do not express their views to patients in ways that exploit their vulnerability or that are likely to cause them distress. However, it is very important that doctors understand the law and how it applies to them. They may find it helpful therefore to have advice about the extent to which their normal professional duties, such as providing copies of medical records, may be regarded as falling within the scope of the Act or might be affected by your policy statement. This is primarily a matter for bodies representing doctors, or providing them with legal advice, rather than for the GMC. I have noted that the BMA has already sought your advice within their consultation response.