This is a very important document for medical doctors, because it is
against this Code that their professional conduct and practice is
measured. Unfortunately, there are numerous defects in the new edition
of the Guide.
Towards the end of the section on “End of Life Care” (no. 46), the previous (8th) edition (2016) states very clearly: “You must not take part in the deliberate killing of a patient.”
This statement has been dropped from the 9th edition. I find myself wondering if this is an oversight, or is it the case that
the Medical Council has now decided that it is acceptable for doctors
to take part in the deliberate killing of a patient? Even if assisted
suicide were to be legalised, for example, that of itself would never
make the killing of patients ethical.
The sections on Assisted Human Reproduction (47) and Abortion (48), which were in the 8th edition of the Guide, have disappeared from the 9th edition. This would seem to suggest that the Medical Council does not see these
very significant areas of activity as involving any ethical questions or
risks.
Is this simply because the law in these areas has changed. Have actions which were previously unethical, and quite simply “bad
medicine”, suddenly become ethical because they are now legal?
Under the heading of Conscientious Objection, I note that the
Guide reflects recent legislation on Abortion, in that it requires
doctors to “make such arrangements as may be necessary to enable the
patient to obtain the required treatment.”
I am not sure how it makes
sense ethically to require a doctor to assist a patient to access a
procedure which the doctor, herself or himself, regards as unethical.
These matters do not only affect doctors. These matters also impact the
common good of our society by radically redefining what is “good” for
us all. I have written to the President of the Medical Council seeking
clarification, but my letter has received neither a reply nor even an
acknowledgement.