Doctors must let Sands die

Press, 1 May 1981, Page 6

Doctors must let Sands die

NZPA-Reuter Belfast Bobby Sands lies on a waterbed in the hospital wing of the Maze Prison near Belfast, his eyesight and hearing failing and his bones protruding through his dry skin. His pulse is checked regularly and he is under constant surveillance, but apart from the mineral water he sips, he is given no other sustenance or medical aid, according to his supporters. Should he lapse into a coma, doctors are unlikely to step in to prolong his life. The British Government’s policy is not to force-feed hunger strikers, and officials have said Sands will not be fed intravenously if he lapses into unconsciousness. Sands’s mother and sister have said they are prepared to see him die for his cause rather than appeal for lastminute medical aid. The British Medical Association said yesterday that if the patient and his family decided not to prolong life doctors would not intervene. “It is an appalling dilemma for a doctor,” said a B.M.A. spokesman. "But he has to bear in mind the right of a patient to make a decision to take his own life if he wishes to.”

The B.M.A. handbook of medical ethics says: “The physician is confronted by two conflicting ethical imperatives: his duty to do all in his power to preserve life and his obligation to respect the right of a rational patient to refuse even a life-saving intervention.” Dr Michael Thomas, chairman of the B.M.A.’s ethical committee, said a doctor could lay himself open for an assault charge if he revived a patient who had firmly stated a wish to die. Sands has said he is determined to die unless the British negotiate his demands for prison reforms which would give political recognition to jailed Irish Republican Army guerrillas. Sands’s supporters saw one last life-saving chance — if he fell into a coma but survived for several days, Britain may be embarrassed into opening talks on the demands. “If the British Government would negotiate with the prisoners on their demands, there’s a possibility his life may be saved,” said a spokesman for the national H-Block committee, campaigning for Sands and other jailed I.R.A. guerrillas.