The Medical Association of Slovenia and the Committee for Legal and Ethical Issues at the Medical Association oppose the proposal for a law on assistance in the voluntary end of life.
Chairman of the Board Peter Dove said at the press conference that the proposal introduces the professional duty of health workers and colleagues to participate in the end of life, which is unacceptable and unique in the world. “The board understands that like some spin the compulsion of the profession,” he said. The draft law envisages that medical professionals could avoid these professional duties through conscientious objection.
The committee therefore points out that conscientious objection in medicine is used for actions that are consistent with professional duty and necessary, but which the doctor does not want to perform. “In the case of euthanasia and assisted suicide, we cannot say that these are actions that are consistent with the rules of the profession or with professional duty, nor that they are necessary,” said the Pigeon.
“Ethical Slip”
The bill provides for assistance in suicide and euthanasia also for persons with a severe permanent illness with constant or recurring symptoms, on the existence severe chronic diseases like the conditions for end-of-life assistance will be decided only by experts who are not opposed to such assistance. “This, according to the committee, is the same ethical lapse, like if only experts who oppose assisted suicide and euthanasia would make decisions in these same bodies,” said the Pigeon. He added that the committee fully shares the ethical assessment and concerns of the Medical Ethics Commission, which also opposes the bill.
Beović points to the lack of palliative care
President of the Medical Chamber Bojana Beović but she emphasized that “we doctors do not want and cannot be involved like commitment to something with which we do not even professionally agree”. The task of the medical profession is also to warn the general public about abuses that may occur when such a law is enacted.
At the same time, she drew attention to the specifics of Slovenian society, that they cannot offer patients palliative care, because it does not exist on a sufficiently large scale, the attitude towards the elderly and others who are not able to take care of themselves, since there is also no well-organized long-term care. “These are all special situations Slovenian companies, which are quite different from wealthier countries, where such legislation is, albeit in a different way, but still enforced,” she said.
Situations, in which a person could request to end their life, are listed very broadly in the bill, but they also cover social hardships that society should solve, Beović believes. She warned that the proposal reduces the role of the doctor like the decision-maker about ending life, even though he has the most knowledge about objective suffering.
To a journalist’s question, what type of law on assistance in ending life would be acceptable to doctors, Beović replied that such a law would not be acceptable in any form to a large part of the medical profession.
The draft law prepared by Silver Thread would legislate the right of adults who suffer unbearably and cannot hope for improvement to, under certain conditions, ask for help to end their lives with dignity. Until June 22, 5,000 signatures are being collected for the submission of the bill to the Parliament.
Videos: Expert consultation at the chamber on euthanasia
Source: Rtvslo
