Saturday, October 26, 2019

World Medical Association re-affirms its opposition to euthanasia and assisted suicide.


Declaration on Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide
(Link to the Declaration)

Adopted by the 70th WMA General Assembly, Tbilisi, Georgia, October 2019

1. The WMA reiterates its strong commitment to the principles of medical ethics and that utmost respect has to be maintained for human life. Therefore, the WMA is firmly opposed to euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide.

2. For the purpose of this declaration, euthanasia is defined as a physician deliberately administering a lethal substance or carrying out an intervention to cause the death of a patient with decision-making capacity at the patient’s own voluntary request. Physician-assisted suicide refers to cases in which, at the voluntary request of a patient with decision-making capacity, a physician deliberately enables a patient to end his or her own life by prescribing or providing medical substances with the intent to bring about death.

3. No physician should be forced to participate in euthanasia or assisted suicide, nor should any physician be obliged to make referral decisions to this end.

4. Separately, the physician who respects the basic right of the patient to decline medical treatment does not act unethically in forgoing or withholding unwanted care, even if respecting such a wish results in the death of the patient.


Further reading:

5 comments:

Janice said...

What kind of clout does the WMA have on governments though?
Will countries hear or respect what they have to say?
Canada surely doesn't.

Benoit Lavoie said...

Very good news. The WMA may not have a direct influence on governments, but citizens wno oppose euthanasia will be comforted in their position and be able to claim that people who oppose are not all uneducated or unable to cope with "progress".


Benoit Lavoie
Cantley, Qc

Anonymous said...

Canada is not on the list of memebers

https://www.wma.net/who-we-are/members/members-list-printable/

Dr. Arnold Voth said...

The WMA obviously has no clout at all with the Canadian government as the CMA left the organization last year. Whether the Canadian government will heed the WMA when it's only major medical organization has renounced it is unknown, but it would be doubtful. arnold voth md

Alex Schadenberg said...

Canada withdrew from the World Medical Association because they couldn't convince the world to go neutral on euthanasia and assisted suicide.