Scottish Parliament to consider ‘very dangerous’ assisted suicide proposals

Liam McArthur’s plans to remove legal protections for vulnerable people in Scotland have been lodged at Holyrood.

The MSP’s assisted suicide Bill proposes that anyone aged 16 or over who is deemed terminally ill and has been resident in Scotland for 12 months can get help to kill themselves.

More than 14,000 responses were submitted to the public consultation on the Assisted Dying (Scotland) Bill, the highest number ever received for a proposed Member’s Bill in the Scottish Parliament.

‘Pressure’

A summary of consultation responses prepared by McArthur and his team claims that over three-quarters of respondents (78 per cent) supported the proposals, while 21 per cent warned that weakening the law would endanger the vulnerable. However, more than 3,300 additional responses opposing the Bill have been excluded.

Dr Gordon Macdonald, CEO of Care Not Killing called the Bill “very dangerous”: “Evidence from other countries shows that when assisted suicide or euthanasia are legalised, the safeguards promised are quickly removed and the law is extended to include more and more vulnerable people.

more than 3,300 additional responses opposing the Bill have been excluded

“People will come under pressure from others to end their lives for fear of being a financial or care burden. People with depression won’t get the proper psychiatric support they need and palliative care services will continue to be underfunded.”

Dr Naomi Richards, Director of the End of Life Studies Group at the University of Glasgow, added that the Bill’s definition of terminal illness is “unworkable”, as it is overly broad and could lead to “unintended consequences”.

‘Real disaster’

Disability activist Dr Jim Elder-Woodward OBE, who was born with cerebral palsy, highlighted the pressure disabled people experienced during the coronavirus pandemic and warned that legalising assisted suicide could “open a real disaster for disabled people in the future”.

He added: “Not one disabled people’s organisation is in favour of assisted dying.”

a real disaster for disabled people

Former MSP Dennis Canavan, who lost three children to terminal illnesses, said: “My children undoubtedly underwent some pain but it was minimised by caring health professionals. As a result, my children died in dignity and I do not accept that the option of assisted suicide is necessary to ensure dignity in death.”

Defeat

Two assisted suicide Bills have been defeated in the Scottish Parliament since 2010, most recently in 2015, when MSPs rejected Patrick Harvie’s Assisted Suicide (Scotland) Bill by 82 votes to 36.

A majority of MSPs in both the Scottish Conservatives and Scottish Labour voted against the Bill.

MSPs from the Scottish Liberal Democrats and the SNP also rejected the legislation, while both Scottish Green MSPs at the time voted in favour.