Royal College of Surgeons drops opposition to assisted dying as survey finds majority of members support law change

• 72% of members vote to drop opposition to assisted dying
• 61% of members personally support law change
• 52% say College should be supportive of a change in the law to permit assisted dying

The Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England) has voted to drop its opposition to assisted dying, it announced last night (Thursday 15 June 2023), after three-quarters of members surveyed sought a change in stance and its Council voted to adopt a neutral position. The RCS follows a growing number of medical bodies dropping their opposition to assisted dying, including the British Medical Association, the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Nursing, which have all adopted a neutral stance after surveying the views of their members.

In an independent survey carried out across four weeks in February and March 2023, 72% of RCS respondents voted to change the College’s opposition, with 52% believing the RCS should be supportive of a change in the law to permit assisted dying and 20% in favour of a neutral position. Following a debate by the RCS’s Council in April and May 2023, a majority vote was cast in favour of adopting a neutral position.

A majority (61%) of survey respondents said they personally supported a change in the law on assisted dying, which was defined as “prescribing life ending drugs for terminally ill, mentally competent adults to administer themselves after meeting strict legal safeguards”. The most common reasons cited were that ‘patients should have choice/autonomy/control’ and that ‘patients should not have to suffer/experience poor quality of life’.  Just 29% said they were personally opposed and 10% were undecided. A majority of respondents (59%), regardless of their view on whether the law should change, felt doctors should be involved in confirming a patient meets the eligibility criteria.

Professor Sir John Graham Temple FRSCEd, former President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and former President of the British Medical Association, said: 

“I commend the Royal College of Surgeons of England for listening to its members and adopting a fair, representative position on assisted dying.

“While the views of the medical profession are an important part of this debate, doctors should not dictate to society the choices that people are able to make about their own lives and deaths. We must listen to and respect the wishes of those we treat. I personally believe, as do a growing number of medics, that a safeguarded assisted dying law would improve the relationship between doctors and patients, allowing for more open conversations and greater transparency at the end of life.

“This debate is not going away and the law will inevitably change. As momentum for reform grows, our profession must seize the opportunity and play our part in determining what law change looks like.”​

Sarah Wootton, Chief Executive of Dignity in Dying, said:

“The RCS should be praised for its constructive engagement in the assisted dying debate; a conversation that is becoming impossible for medics and parliament to ignore.

“Neutrality is the only stance that enables medical bodies to contribute fully and fairly to this debate, representing the range of views among their members and ensuring the voices of terminally ill people are at the forefront. With the British Isles on the cusp of change, this is more important than ever. The first ever Commons inquiry on assisted dying is currently underway, led by the Health and Social Care Select Committee, and proposals for law change are progressing in Holyrood and the parliaments of Jersey and the Isle of Man. Our neighbours in the Republic of Ireland and France are also examining the issue and ever more countries in Europe, North America and Australasia are legislating.

“It’s notable that the majority of RCS members, like the overwhelming majority of the public, personally recognise that our current laws on assisted dying are outdated and must change. The reality of the blanket ban on assisted dying is that for some dying people, their only choice is between suffering, suicide or Switzerland. We can and must do better, by legislating to give our dying citizens the choice, compassion and protection they lack right now. Assisted dying is a reform whose time has come.”

The College had previously been officially opposed to assisted dying since 2014. Its move to neutrality follows a growing number of medical bodies, including the British Medical Association (BMA), the largest doctors’ union in the UK. In 2022, The BMA voted to reaffirm its neutral position, which it adopted in 2021 following the largest every survey of doctors’ views on assisted dying. The Royal College of Nursing voted to maintain its neutral position last year. The Royal College of Physicians, the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society all hold neutral positions on assisted dying.

84% of the British public support a change in the law to allow assisted dying as a choice for terminally ill people. Majority support for reform is consistent across the country, age, gender, socioeconomic background, political leaning, among those with and without religious views and those with and without disabilities.

Recent data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has indicated that people with serious and potentially terminal illnesses are more than twice as likely to take their own lives than those without, with Dignity in Dying research estimating that up to 650 terminally ill people every year take their own lives. This is in addition to the 17 people a day who would die in pain even with universal access to hospice care (as estimated by the Office of Health Economics). Every week, one British citizen travels to Switzerland for help to die (pre-pandemic average), while British membership of Dignitas is at an all-time high.

Assisted dying bills are currently progressing in the Scotland, Jersey and the Isle of Man Parliaments. President Emmanuel Macron has announced a national debate in France with a view to legalising assisted dying by the end of 2023, while Portugal legalised assisted dying last month.  A special Oireachtas joint committee is currently examining the topic in Ireland. Over 250 million people around the world have access to some form of assisted dying law, including in 11 states in the US, all Australian states and the whole of New Zealand, where the choice is available to terminally ill, mentally competent adults subject to strict safeguards.

*Ends*

For further information or interviews with people with personal stories, representatives of Dignity in Dying or medical professionals, please contact Molly Pike, Media & Campaigns Officer, at 07929 731181 or molly.pike@dignityindying.org.uk.