Medical Council Guidelines (2024 Changes)
The current Medical Council Guidelines (9th edition 2024), unlike the previous edition, do not include a direct statement that medical professionals “must not take part in the deliberate killing of a patient”. This statement was present in the Guide to Professional Conduct and Ethics (8th Edition 2019, section 46.9).
Dr. Suzanne Crowe, president of the Medical Council, told the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Assisted Dying that the decision to delete this statement “was not the Medical Council taking a stance or paving the way for any possible future change”.
However, many leading doctors have strongly criticised this significant removal. Prof Des O’Neill, Consultant Geriatrician and lecturer on ethics, described the rationale for the change as “ethically impoverished” and also pointed out that when representatives from a wide range of professional bodies were consulted on the proposed changes to the Guide in 2022, the removal of the long-standing ban on deliberate killing was one of the few sections not presented for debate.
The ethical guidelines around passive Euthanasia were also revised and currently state:
46.4 You should not start or continue treatment, including resuscitation, or provide nutrition and hydration by medical intervention, if you consider the treatment:
• Is unlikely to work.
• Might cause the patient more harm than benefit.
• Is likely to cause the patient pain, discomfort or distress that will outweigh the benefits.