‘You always own the option of having no opinion. Things you can't control are not asking to be judged by you. Leave them alone.’

Marcus Aurelius (121–180 CE)

For the record: I am a full-time NHS consultant in pain medicine and anaesthesia, and the sole provider of ‘interventional pain procedures’ to my local hospice, where I have a weekly session to see inpatients, outpatients and discuss complex pain problems in the end, and not-so-end, of life scenarios. I am also a former dean of the Faculty of Pain Medicine.

Discussions have started within the RCoA on whether the College, and its faculties, should take a stand on the issue of ‘assisted dying’.

They should not. Not pro, anti, or neutral (this last stance is multifaceted and arguably not ‘neutral’ at all).