Loading ...Irish Medical Council removes language banning ‘deliberate killing’ of patients in new guidelines
Another line informing physicians that the care they provide would ‘usually’ be given with the intention ‘to prolong a patient’s life’ was also erased.
In the ninth edition of its “Guide to Professional Conduct and Ethics for Registered Medical Practitioners,” the Irish Medical Council, which oversees more than 20,000 doctors nationwide, removed a provision under the document’s “End of Life” section stating that physicians may “not participate in the deliberate killing of a patient.”
The language banning the “deliberate killing” of patients under the care of Irish doctors had been in the manual since the seventh edition in 2009 and was also included in the eighth edition released in 2016, Catholic News Agency (CNA) noted.
The new guidelines took effect January 1.