Respected South African medical experts, including professors, oncologists, ethicists and anaesthesiologists, have thrown their weight behind a pending court challenge to legalise assisted suicide, saying euthanasia does not offend the modern Oath of Hippocrates – a main argument of opponents to the practice.
This, they wrote in the SA Medical Journal, is because one of the pillars of the Oath is to respect the autonomy of patients, and that it is well-known within the medical fraternity that some doctors are helping their patients to die medically at the risk of being prosecuted.
Dignity SA, the applicant in the matter, said the experts’ views would assist greatly in the pending challenge, with Professor Willem Landman telling Beeld it was rare for doctors to have the courage to take a public stance in favour of assisted dying.
The organisation’s constitutional challenge was in its final stages of preparation before it applied for a hearing date, he added.
In the SAMJ article, the eight authors said that legalising assisted death would allow doctors to help patients to “have as gentle and peaceful a death as possible”.
Medically assisted dying would conform to the principles of medical ethics: to do no harm, promote the best interests of the patient, respect their autonomy and treat them fairly, they added.
If responsibly practised, it “conforms to all four of these principles”, but it was crucial that it was “patient-initiated and patient-driven”, reports TimesLIVE.
“Medically assisted dying hastens death to spare the patient suffering from a condition with no prospect of further beneficial treatment. It should only be a response to an initiative of and request by the patient, after free and unencumbered deliberation and choice,” they said.
They argued that even though the public debate about assisted dying started more than 25 years ago and the SA Law Commission has drafted legislation on end-of-life treatment options, there remains no law that governs this form of death.
They said countries that had legalised assisted dying did this responsibly, with protocols and safeguards ranging from conservative to permissive.
“Because of these considerations, we support medically assisted dying practised with responsibility, compassion, protection of the vulnerable, and respect for patients’ preferences regarding their bodily freedom and dignity.”
In South Africa, the time had come for this to be recognised as a “compassionate, humane and caring end-of-life medical treatment option”.
“As medical practitioners, we should assist patients to have as gentle and peaceful a death as possible.”
This should be done along with end-of-life options such as palliative sedation, withdrawal or withholding of life-sustaining treatment, they wrote.
“A general legal prohibition of medical assistance in dying in the appropriate circumstances means abandoning patients in their final and dire need.”
The group includes Professor JP van Niekerk, former dean of health sciences at the University of Cape Town, neurosurgeon and former chair of Stellenbosch University Council Dr Paul Cluver, anaesthesiologist Dr Edwin Hertzog, who is the founder and past chair of Mediclinic International, and Prof Mariana Kruger, former executive head of paediatrics and child health at Stellenbosch University.
The other authors are bioethicist and head of medical ethics at Stellenbosch University Professor Keymanthri Moodley, Professor Jonny Myers, director, occupational and environmental health unit and former head of school of public health at UCT; Professor Dan Ncayiyana, obstetrician and gynaecologist and emeritus professor at UCT, and Dr Johan Snyman, adviser in the medical insurance and chair of the South African Medical Association (SAMA) in the Eastern Cape.
South African Medical Journal – Decriminalising and legalising medical assistance in dying
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
SA woman has assisted suicide after winning medical negligence claim
Euthanasia activist Sean Davison calls for law change after house arrest ends
Euthanasia activist says SA doctors support legalising assisted dying