News from the Secular Medical Forum

By Antony Lempert

Assisted Dying – last chance to respond to the consultation by the DPP. On 30 July 2009 the Law Lords ruled on the Debbie Purdy case that the law on assisted dying needs to be clarified. On 23 September, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) released an interim policy which is nearing the end of the consultation stage.

The consultation ends this Wednesday 16th December. If you have a view about assisted dying please contribute to the consultation. The SMF and the NSS will be sending a joint response.

Non-therapeutic circumcision (NTC). The SMF continues its work towards ending NTC in the UK. At the end of November they chaired a meeting combining senior members from several organisations working to develop a joint strategy and action plan.

The Daily Mirror reported on a 20 year old man initiating legal proceedings against the doctor who performed a NTC on him as an infant because of his parents’ religious beliefs. The young man has been in regular contact with the SMF.

The Daily Telegraph reported on a paper recently published in the Journal Clinical Ethics concluding that current GMC and BMA guidance to doctors is itself unethical in that it allows parents to procure a non-therapeutic, irreversible surgical procedure on their children to satisfy their own religious beliefs. The author of the paper, Dr David Shaw, is a lecturer in ethics at Glasgow University.

The SMF will be contacting both the BMA and the GMC asking them to revisit their respective guidelines. Members of the NSS may wish to contact their MPs, NHS trusts and local media to bring these developments to their attention and to raise public awareness.