Vulnerable at Risk: MSPs Reject Key Amendments to Assisted Suicide Bill
Committee votes down key proposals that would protect people with years to live, disabled people, those with intellectual disabilities, and those with eating disorders
Holyrood’s Health and Sport Committee has rejected a raft of amendments that would have strengthened safeguards in Liam McArthur’s Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill.
The Bill, which seeks to introduce state-assisted suicide for adults diagnosed with terminal illnesses and which has sparked intense debate across the country, is being subjected to further scrutiny in Parliament, including proposed amendments by MSPs.
Among the most notable amendments dismissed by the committee were proposals aimed at tightening eligibility and safeguarding vulnerable individuals.
The committee controversially rejected an amendment that would restrict eligibility to those with six months or less to live, a move that would align the bill with similar legislation in other jurisdictions.
Independent MSP, Jeremy Balfour, said that this leaves the definition of terminal illness in the Bill “extraordinarily broad”, adding: “as it stands it could include individuals who would live not for weeks or months, but for years. People managing long-term conditions, people receiving treatment that stabilises their illness, people who still have meaningful time ahead of them, would all fall within the scope of the Bill as drafted at the moment.”
Pam Duncan-Glancy, the first permanent wheelchair user elected to the Scottish Parliament, told the committee that she was diagnosed with juvenile idiopathic arthritis when she was 18 months old and “it is not something I’m going to recover from”, adding that she would qualify as ‘terminally ill’ under the Bill as it stands.
Another proposal 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. This too was rejected.
The committee also turned down an amendment that would have mandated the decision for assisted death be made entirely without influence from medical professionals, witnesses, or caregivers; an astonishing decision given a key driver for this legislation is autonomy.
In another disturbing move, the committee rejected Jeremy Balfour’s proposal to exclude individuals whose motivations stem from non-terminal conditions, including intellectual disabilities such as Down’s Syndrome, eating disorders such as anorexia, loneliness, financial hardship, and feelings of being a burden.
Reacting to the committee session, Director of the Catholic Parliamentary Office, Anthony Horan, said:
“These amendments were clearly designed to protect some of the most vulnerable people in our communities from being coerced into a premature death; disabled people, those with poor mental health, and people struggling with financial hardship.
“Their rejection is deeply troubling and suggests a direction of travel that should alarm MSPs right across the Parliament.”
The committee will meet again next Tuesday to continue consideration of amendments.
