A Law Without Dignity – Scotland’s Assisted Suicide Bill Must be Rejected
Holyrood Health Committee votes down countless amendments to protect the vulnerable
Holyrood’s Health Committee has rejected more crucial safeguards as consideration of amendments to Liam McArthur’s Assisted Suicide Bill draws to a close.
Having already rejected a slew of sensible amendments, this week the committee rejected a proposal to require doctors involved in assisted suicides to be trained in identifying domestic abuse and coercive control.
This was met with dismay by Anni Donaldson, an expert in domestic abuse crimes at the University of Strathclyde, who described the rejection as “both baffling and alarming”, admitting that she remains “deeply concerned that the legislation will make life more dangerous for vulnerable women.”
Ms Donaldson appealed to MSPs to “have victims of abuse in mind when they vote on the Bill again.”
The committee has, in fact, rejected every single amendment tabled to define coercion and pressure in the Bill, leaving vulnerable people, including domestic abuse victims, at the mercy of a dangerous and unsafe law.
The committee also rejected calls for authorities to consult with palliative care providers, including hospices and charities, on future reviews of assisted suicide law. This follows last week’s rejection of an institutional opt-out for hospices and care homes, meaning some care homes and hospices may lose funding or be forced to close, including Catholic ones, if they did not want to facilitate assisted suicide.
The committee has already rejected several sensible amendments relating to palliative care, including a proposal that would have required individuals seeking assisted suicide to have a fully costed palliative care support plan, ensuring that all care alternatives were explored before proceeding with an assisted suicide.
Helen Malo, Senior Policy and Public Affairs Manager for Scotland at Hospice UK, said: “Hospice UK has no collective view on whether the law should change on assisted dying, yet we feel it would be a moral and practical failure if a single person in future felt compelled to seek an assisted death due to a lack of available palliative care.
“Every person in Scotland should be able to access high-quality care and support at the end of life, wherever they live.”
Hospices in Scotland are currently being forced to make cuts due to underfunding which has left them “stretched to breaking point.”
The committee also rejected all ‘sunset clause’ amendments, meaning that, even if the law went badly wrong, there wouldn’t be an automatic mechanism for the Parliament to review it.
In total, around 150 amendments have been rejected over the last three weeks. These include an amendment to exclude individuals whose motivations stem from non-terminal conditions, such as intellectual disabilities, eating disorders, and feelings of being a burden.
Astonishingly, the committee also rejected an amendment to prevent doctors from raising assisted suicide with patients, meaning doctors will be able to initiate discussions on assisted suicide, a move that significantly risks undermining trust in the doctor–patient relationship and puts vulnerable people at risk.
Anthony Horan, Director of the CPO, said that the committee’s consistent failure to protect vulnerable people leaves MSPs with only one option when they vote again on the Bill at Stage 3.
“For reasons unknown this committee has consistently rejected important safeguards, the main consequence of which is an inexplicable failure to protect vulnerable people.
“As parliamentarians, MSPs have an important role to provide the legislative and policy framework for the protection of the poorest and most vulnerable in our country and to ensure the provision of vital support to those most in need.
“This Bill does the exact opposite; it leaves vulnerable people exposed to coercion and, in stark contrast to providing essential help and support to help people live, it offers death.
“There is no dignity to be found in this Bill and MSPs should do the right and sensible thing and reject it at Stage 3.”
Please use Care Not Killing’s convenient online tool to write to your MSPs and update them on these deeply troubling developments. Note that the tool has recently been updated. Click the following link and enter your postcode: https://carenotkilling.scot/
