Whatever Happened to ‘Do No Harm’?

The head of a pediatricians’ group is urging patients to lobby their physicians to be healers – not killers.

By Charlie Butts, OneNewsNow.com, September 26, 2017

Apparently the American Medical Association is being pressured to move from “oppose” to “neutral” on the issue of doctor-assisted suicide. In contrast, the American College of Physicians – which consists of practitioners of internal medicine – has issued a bold policy statement against doctors assisting people in killing themselves. The AMA has yet to speak out.

The American College of Pediatricians, headed by Dr. Michelle Cretella, is applauding the American College of Physicians for saying that despite arguments euthanasia should be a legal option at the end of life, it “believes that the ethical arguments against legalizing physician-assisted suicide remain the most compelling.”

Cretella says it’s important for people to contact their AMA member physicians on the issue.

Cretella

“Let them know that if you are in pain and if you’re at the end of your life [that] what you want is a healer, not a killer,” she explains. “[Tell them] that you don’t want your physician to have a license to kill; you want your physician to be there to comfort you and be by your side.”

The AMA officially opposes doctor-assisted suicide, but Cretella contends that well-funded proponents have been pressuring the organization to change direction.

“They have successfully pressured the AMA to study the issue and consider switching from an opposing stand to a neutral stand,” she continues.

In California, after the state medical association changed its policy to neutral, the State Assembly eventually passed a bill legalizing doctor-assisted termination of patients’ lives. Supporters of euthanasia are hopeful that if the American Medical Association officially becomes neutral on the issue, more state legislatures will pass laws legalizing it.