By BILL HEANEY
Two organisations, Care Not Killing and Our Duty of Care, have made a joint submission to the Scottish Parliament in relation to an assisted suicide bill put forward at Holyrood by the Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur, who has titled his bill the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill.
Liam McArthur, who has introduced his Bill as part of the process to take it through to a final vote, was obliged to open a public consultation on its proposed terms.
Predictably, since the subject is widely regarded as extremely sensitive, Care Not Killing and Our Duty of Care have been encouraging their supporters to respond individually.
And they have now published their own response “drafted and submitted jointly with allied healthcare professionals as represented by Our Duty of Care (ODOC).”
They add: “The bill is aimed at persons aged 16 or over with a terminal illness, which for the purposes of the Bill would be understood as “that suffered by those who are deemed by doctors as ‘unable to recover’, regardless of the time they have left to live.”
In their submission, they have paid particular attention to:
- the looseness of this definition and its inevitable inclusion of a great many disabled people
- the inefficacy of conscience protections for doctors and other healthcare professionals
- the requirement that assisted suicides be concealed on public records
- the assertion that the legalisation of assisted suicide need not be held back until palliative care is no longer inaccessible for thousands of people every year who would benefit from it
Ultimately, they conclude that: “It is clear to us that the proposal placed before the Scottish Parliament would indeed set a new standard, but only by lowering the bar. The proposal would add a cheap ‘treatment option’ without first ensuring equitable access to life-changing palliative care, and create a two-tier approach to suicide prevention: some lives henceforth will be worthy of saving, their suicides prevented, but once an individual is given a certain diagnosis, the state will consider their suicides to be reasonable and worthy of facilitation.
“Specific mention has been made of the experience of Covid 19, in the course of which we have seen healthcare professionals go above and beyond to fight for patients, but we have also seen DNACPRs [Do Not Resuscitate] applied to older and seriously ill patients, and people with learning disabilities, without individual assessment or consent.
Some care home residents in West Dunbartonshire Council-run Crosslet House Care Home had Do Not Resuscitate notices placed on their files during Covid without consultation with their families.
“The lessons of this pandemic should be to strive for innovation in saving and valuing each individual, and to reject easy value judgements. This proposal’s counsel of despair should be rejected by the Scottish Parliament, with instead a renewed focus on ensuring equitable access to life-changing palliative care and support for living.”
“Our current laws on assisted dying are failing too many terminally ill Scots, often leaving them facing an undignified and sometimes painful death despite the very best efforts of palliative care. I have spoken to many people across the country about the harrowing deaths they have witnessed and to dying people facing a series of desperate decisions such as trying to get to Switzerland or taking matters into their own hands. It is clear that a new compassionate and safe law is required.
“My bill is extremely clear about the specific and limited circumstances it will give terminally ill adults the choice they need. Under the terms of my bill, an individual would only be eligible to access the choice of an assisted death if they had an advanced, progressive terminal illness and capacity to make the decision.
“This bill puts much needed compassion and safety in place, it is similar to laws which have been safely and successfully introduced in countries such as Australia, New Zealand and the United States which enjoy strong public support.
“Polling suggests strong support exists for a change in the law but as parliament begins its scrutiny of my bill, I will continue to engage with charities, organisations and my fellow MSPs to understand their perspectives on this important issue.
“The recent report from the House of Commons’ Health and Social committee noted that in the evidence they received they “did not see any indications of palliative and end-of-life care deteriorating in quality or provision following the introduction of [assisted dying]; indeed the introduction of [assisted dying] has been linked with an improvement in palliative care in several jurisdictions.
“Moreover, they concluded that where an assisted dying law based on terminal illness and mental capacity, like the one I have proposed for Scotland, has been introduced there has never been a loosening of the eligibility criteria.”
“Although I can see both sides of the debate, I voted against the two previous bills brought forward, as I believed they were far too wide in scope.
“The latest bill is much narrower and only applies to those who, unfortunately, have a terminal illness, with a strict set of accompanying criteria.
“However, I still have concerns about the need for safeguards and the difficulties in implementing these.”
LATEST:
More than 20,000 people have had their say in a consultation on plans to legalise assisted dying – with supporters insisting the results show “strong support” from “everyday citizens in Scotland” for the controversial measure.
A total of 20,913 individuals and a further 144 organisations responded to a call for views from MSPs who are to scrutinise the proposed legislation.
Almost three quarters (74%) of the 13,820 who submitted shorter responses on Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur’s member’s Bill supported the introduction of assisted dying for adults in the final stages of a terminal illness.
But the analysis of responses by the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Spice) also showed that 93% of the 7,236 who submitted detailed responses were against the change.
When looking at all the responses received by Holyrood’s Health and Sport Committee during the consultation, 10,120 were strongly opposed to the legislation, while 10,380 fully supported it.
Top of page picture is of a patient fighting for his/her life during the Covid pandemic when some patients had ‘do not resuscitate’ placed on their medical records without their consent.