Professor Weale, emeritus professor of political theory and public policy at University College London, said he saw no reason why the RCP’s governing council had decided to abandon its previous position, which stated the organisation could not support changing the law on assisted suicide.
“There seems to be no chain of coherent reasoning leading to the council’s own position – a situation I regret deeply,” he said.
He also attacked the handling of the survey of doctors which led to the change in stance.
The poll asked doctors if the RCP should be for, against or neutral on assisted suicide; 43 per cent voted for opposition, 32 per cent backed changing the law, and just 25 percent voted for neutrality.
But unlike previous polls on the same question, the RCP’s council had decided in advance they should automatically switch to neutrality unless any of the three options was backed by a super-majority of 60 per cent.
As a result, the RCP announced last month it would be neutral on the issue, despite only one in four doctors endorsing that position.
My exclusive in Sunday’s @Telegraph:
‘Not coherent and unfair’: Professor quits Royal College of Physicians in protest at new neutral stance on assisted suicidehttps://t.co/isa6azYzIu
— Tim Wyatt (@tswyatt) April 8, 2019