Medics warned over beliefs

A HUMANIST campaigning group has said doctors should put the interests of patients before their own religious beliefs when considering treatments that hasten death.

The British Humanist Association made the comments in response to research published yesterday, which showed doctors with strong religious beliefs were less likely than non-religious colleagues to discuss treatments which hastened death.

The report, published in the British Medical Journal, surveyed almost 4,000 British doctors.

Pepper Harow, BHA campaigns officer, said: "The news that religious doctors may be putting the welfare of their patients as a secondary consideration to their own religious beliefs will be alarming to many."