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Monday, 26 September 2005 12:14

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Doctor to face GMC over euthanasia charge

A prominent euthanasia campaigner is to appear before the General Medical Council after admitting his willingness to help his friend commit suicide.

Dr Michael Irwin, formerly the head of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society, faces being struck off the medical register if found guilty.

The 74-year-old, who openly admits his readiness to assist the death of fellow campaigner Patrick Kneen, said he was too old to practice medicine but hoped his case would highlight the need for a change in the law.

Mr Kneen died without Dr Irwin’s intervention but his willingness to expedite the death led to a police caution.

"I hope that the present GMC interest in me will have, in some small way, positive consequences for the ongoing debate on the need to change the law to permit physician-assisted suicide in this country," he said.

He added that many doctors have “twinning” arrangements with colleagues who have agreed to assist each others deaths should the need arise and said he would ask the GMC panel for their individual views on euthanasia to ensure a fair hearing and

"I expect that the physicians on this five-member Fitness To Practise Panel already know where and how they can obtain assistance to hasten their own deaths, when the time comes, if this should be necessary and desirable for them," he said.

"If physicians are willing to help each other at the end of life, surely they are guilty of applying double standards if they do not extend this privilege to their terminally ill patients or close friends."

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