Sama warns doctors against ‘using their skills to kill patients’
EVEN if the law were to permit medical practitioners to help patients end their lives, the ethical rules of the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) would not allow this, SA’s biggest doctor organisation, the South African Medical Association (Sama), warned on Monday.This means that should a doctor help a terminally ill patient to die, he or she could face disciplinary action from the HPCSA, Sama chairman Mzukisi Grootboom said."We don’t support doctors using their skills to kill a patient. That’s not what being a doctor is about," said Dr Grootboom, adding, "you must remember, ethics take precedence over the laws of the country. There are lots of countries that sent people to the gas chamber."Dr Grootboom’s comments follow last week’s ground-breaking judgment in the High Court in Pretoria, where Judge Hans Fabricius ruled in favour of terminally ill prostate cancer patient Robin Stransham-Ford having a medically assisted death.In his judgment, Judge Fabricius declared that no d...
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