In a disappointing vote at its annual meeting, the American Medical Association (AMA) voted to continue to review, not maintain, its long-standing opposition to physician-assisted suicide.
After two years of hard and detailed work examining the dangerous trends and effects of legalizing physician-assisted suicide, the Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs (CEJA) issued a report to the full AMA recommending the organization maintain their opposition position to assisted suicide.
According to Lisa Schencker at the Chicago Tribune,
The AMA’s House of Delegates, however, narrowly voted at the group’s annual meeting in Chicago not to accept that report, instead sending it back to the committee for further review. About 56 percent of the delegates voted for further review.
By ignoring the CEJA’s recommendations and voting for “further study,” the House of Delegates tragically missed an opportunity to protect vulnerable patients.
For now, the AMA position in opposition to assisted suicide stands. However, this vote has almost certainly teed up another vote on this at the next annual meeting in June of 2019.
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