The BMA has long advised doctors - for moral as well as legal reasons - to avoid actions that might be interpreted as assisting, facilitating or encouraging a suicide attempt. This means not giving patients advice on what constitutes a fatal dose or on anti-emetics in relation to a planned overdose, not suggesting the option of suicide abroad nor writing medical reports specifically to facilitate assisted dying abroad, nor on any other aspects of planning a suicide.
This End of life guidance covers three main issues: contemporaneous and advance refusal of treatment; withholding and withdrawing life-prolonging medical treatment; assisted dying - euthanasia and assisted suicide.