Association for Palliative Medicine replies to Ahmedzai and Fingas

On behalf of the Association for Palliative Medicine of Great Britain and Ireland (APM), we welcome discussion around assisted dying. But we have been misrepresented in comments raised by Ahmedzai and Fingas and three of their colleagues.1

We understand and respect the range of views among palliative medicine professionals around assisted dying. But repeated surveys have shown that the majority of palliative medicine doctors (70-84%) are not in favour of legalising assisted dying, and 75-84% of them would be unwilling to participate in the process. The APM’s position statement on assisted dying acknowledges the variation in views of our members.2

Our approach has been to respond to the view of the majority of our members, while again acknowledging that this is not the view of all. In response to calls from our members, we made available a template letter to send to members of parliament and resources including the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee’s 2024 report on assisted dying and assisted suicide, the King’s College London based Complex Life and Death Decisions Group’s publication on assisted dying, and Chris Whitty’s letter as chief medical officer giving advice to those wishing to speak on this topic. The template is for APM members to edit “as they see fit,” and the other three are helpful non-partisan resources.

We are surprised and distressed that the authors consider this approach leaves some doctors in fear of repercussions if they speak openly about supporting a change in the law on assisted dying. We have been open in all our communications, including listening to the view in favour of assisted dying with openness and respect. We reject the representation of the APM as misinforming on palliative medicine doctors’ stance and of stifling debate.

We have included a session in our next conference in Belfast, where we hope we will see Ahmedzai and his colleagues.