The Christian Medical Fellowship said its members could not ‘in good conscience’ answer tick-box questions in the consultation document sent out by Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions. They fear a ’slippery slope’ to legalising euthanasia without Parliamentary approval.
Good for them!
If you have stumbled onto this blog and are not a Christian, get yourself a hot drink, pull up a comfy chair and then tuck into the following article written by one of the best in the business:- All Of Grace by Charles SpurgeonThousands of Christian doctors have boycotted a public consultation on assisted suicide.
They fear a ’slippery slope’ to legalising euthanasia without Parliamentary approval.
The Christian Medical Fellowship – which represents 4,500 doctors – said its members could not ‘in good conscience’ answer tick-box questions in the consultation document sent out by Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions.
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Dr Peter Saunders, general secretary. of the Christian Medical Fellowship, has told Mr Starmer in a letter:
‘We fear that publishing any such guidelines runs the real risk of leading over the years to what would effectively be legal sanctioning of the practice of assisted suicide. Case law would inevitably be built up, and statute law permitting assisted suicide would eventually follow.
Legalisation of euthanasia would inevitably follow or accompany that. Parliament will effectively have been by-passed by administrative process, and this should never happen in any democratic society.’
The group argues that in the Netherlands, the drift toward euthanasia began with the refusal to prosecute doctors who helped kill their patients. It was followed by guidelines and finally statute law in 2002. There are now nearly 3,000 cases of euthanasia each year.
The consultation on the draft clarification asks participants to tick ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to factors that may or may not result in prosecution.
Tags: Science Medical Ethical