Assisted suicide a ‘lethal weapon’ for domestic abusers

Experts on domestic abuse have warned MSPs that assisted suicide would be a “lethal weapon” for abusers.

Chief Executive of the women’s support service Beira’s Place, Isabelle Kerr, and domestic abuse researcher Dr Anni Donaldson co-wrote a letter to the health committee scrutinising Scotland’s assisted suicide Bill highlighting their concerns.

A Private Member’s Bill proposed by MSP Liam McArthur seeks to give mentally competent people who are over 16 and deemed terminally ill the option of assisted suicide.

Unwitting collusion

Kerr and Donaldson wrote: “Mr McArthur’s Bill risks offering a new, potentially lethal weapon to abusive men whose partners have been diagnosed with life-threatening or terminal illnesses.”

They warned: “Without expertise in understanding the complex nature and interpersonal dynamics of domestic abuse and coercion, and the ability to assess the risks women face, doctors and other health professionals involved in the assisted dying process, may unwittingly collude with an abuser in the murder of his partner.”

The pair highlighted how domestic abuse is “very common in Scottish society” and stated: “It is unrealistic to assume that domestic abuse will cease when a woman receives a diagnosis of terminal illness.”

The ultimate coercion

The letter’s authors defined coercive control as: “not merely persuasion, but a complete change in the perspective of the victim so that she truly believes that she is worthless, a burden to her partner/family, and would not be missed should she die. This is a long term, relentless process of dehumanising the woman so that she becomes ‘disposable’.”

They explained: “We are therefore deeply concerned that women who have been diagnosed with life threatening and terminal illnesses who are living with abusive partners may be coerced into consenting to an assisted death.”

The letter concluded: “State sanctioned killing could provide a conducive context for a domestic abuse perpetrator’s ultimate act of control.”

Protect the vulnerable

Better Way spokesman Dr Miro Griffiths, who campaigns against assisted suicide, called the letter a “significant intervention” which “should give MSPs serious pause for thought”.

He said: “The Bill before Holyrood is fatally flawed. There is no way to screen out coercion, no way to prevent deaths arising from incorrect prognosis, and no way to prevent people ending their lives due to an unjust lack of support.”

Griffiths stated: “An ‘assisted dying’ law would provide a tool for bad actors to exploit, with women victims of domestic abuse particularly at risk of harm.”

He urged MSPs to oppose the Bill, saying: “Ensuring the protection of Scotland’s most vulnerable citizens requires keeping assisted suicide off the statute book.”