Pretoria - The South African Medical Association (Sama) is the latest medical body to distance itself from doctor-assisted suicide and has warned doctors to guard against getting involved in euthanasia to avoid punitive action.
On Monday the doctors’ body said while the Pretoria High Court had ruled that terminally ill Cape Town advocate, Robin Stransham-Ford, had the right to commit suicide with a doctor’s help, pain could not be viewed as persuasive enough reason to resort to the extreme measure of ending life.
The Hospice and Palliative Care Association (HPCA) also opposed doctor-assisted suicide, saying if it was legalised, the right to die might be abused, “exposing patients to the risk of having their lives ended prematurely because of the lack of palliative care services” in state and private sector.
Dr Mzukisi Grootboom, Sama’s chairman, said the doctors’ body supported palliative care for the relief of pain for patients who were terminally ill.
“Notwithstanding the court decision that the medical practitioner who assisted the (patient) would not be held accountable criminally or civilly, Sama cautions its practitioners that the Health Professions Council of SA’s policies remain in force and such activities by practitioners could result in disciplinary sanctions by the (regulatory body).”
Last week, Judge Hans Fabricius ruled that Stransham-Ford was entitled to be assisted by a medical practitioner either by the administration of a lethal agent or by providing him with the necessary lethal agent to administer himself. But Stransham-Ford died of natural causes before the court order was issued.
The Doctors for Life International expressed disappointment at the court’s judgment, described it as setting a “dangerous double standard to say suicide under certain conditions is acceptable while discouraging suicide as a whole”.
The organisation warned against exploitation of the terminally ill, citing that not only were they vulnerable, but the right to die could increase suicide levels in South Africa - a country already struggling with high teenage suicide.
South Africa was one of the leading countries in suicide, it said, ranking it fifth among countries with the highest rate of suicide.
Grootboom said instead of assisting people to die, doctors had an obligation to patients, and such duties extended to that of advocating for access to quality palliative care for terminally ill patients.
“Sama does not support the right to die in law and opposes euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide in line with the HPCSA’s policies and the World Medical Association’s guidelines and codes on the subject.”
Dr Liz Gwyther, chief executive of the Hospice and Palliative Care Association, also criticised assisted suicide saying it did not support an individual’s dignity nor expressed the value of that individual.
“It is also an unnecessarily extreme measure given the palliative alternatives that neither prolong life nor hasten death.
“The obligation of a healthcare professional in the palliative care setting is to try, as far as possible, to offer care that will ease dying, but not deliberately bring about death,” she said.
“Mr Stransham-Ford would have had his pain well controlled by a palliative care doctor.
“Cancer pain is not a valid reason to apply for a premature ending of one’s life.
“We can control cancer pain very well so that the person is free from pain and within a few days the drowsiness caused by strong analgesics wears off so that he can live actively and well - even with advanced cancer,” she said.
Dignity SA, which supported Stransham-Ford in court and had been campaigning for a law change to allow assisted dying, described last week’s judgment as legal precedent.
Dignity SA founder Professor Sean Davison said the court application was about sane people making the decision for themselves and asking society to respect that decision.
Cape Argus