Printed from: https://www.cmf.org.uk/news/?id=16
The Select Committee on the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill (Joffe Bill) reported on 4 April.
The Committee's role was to examine the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill and make recommendations to Parliament. For further information see:
In its deliberations the Committee heard from more than 140 witnesses in the UK, The Netherlands, the US State of Oregon and Switzerland. It received 60 submissions of written evidence from organisations and more than 14,000 letters and e-mails from individuals.
The thrust of the report is that the committee was divided but has produced a large dossier of evidence as a basis for further discussion whilst at the same time stressing that physician assisted suicide must be thought of in a different category to euthanasia. We would argue that there is no moral or ethical difference and that by making the first legal we are letting the second in as well.
Effectively they have sat on the fence and said that it is up to Parliament to decide.
The Bill now will fall because of the election but Lord Joffe proposes to introduce an amended version in the next parliament.
CMF and LCF have commented in a joint press release, available on this site. See also comment on this site by Andrew Fergusson and Peter Saunders.
Steven Fouch (CMF Head of Communications) 020 7234 9668
Alistair Thompson on 07970 162 225
Christian Medical Fellowship (CMF) was founded in 1949 and is an interdenominational organisation with over 5,000 doctors, 900medical and nursing students and 300 nurses and midwives as members in all branches of medicine, nursing and midwifery. A registered charity, it is linked to over 100 similar bodies in other countries throughout the world.
CMF exists to unite Christian healthcare professionals to pursue the highest ethical standards in Christian and professional life and to increase faith in Christ and acceptance of his ethical teaching.
