FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ASSISTED SUICIDE: OPPONENTS EXPRESS CONCERNS OVER REJECTION OF AMENDMENTS DESIGNED TO PROTECT THE VULNERABLE & IMPROVE PALLIATIVE CARE
Campaigners opposed to Scotland’s proposed assisted suicide law have expressed concerns after a raft of proposals to make the Bill safer and protect the vulnerable were thrown out by a Holyrood committee.
Proposals rejected by the health committee included ways of improving palliative care and providing training for health professionals in how to deal with the issue if the Bill is passed.
MSPs also voted down an amendment requiring guidance to be drafted about what medics should do if assisted suicide drugs fail or there are complications after a person takes the deadly medication.
Dr Gordon Macdonald, CEO of Care Not Killing, which is spearheading criticism of the legislation said:
“It is very disappointing that on Tuesday (November 25) the committee rejected more than 40 amendments aimed at making the Bill safer.
“Very reasonable proposals by Jackie Baillie and Paul Sweeney – both Labour – and the SNP’s Bob Dorris, were dismissed along with suggestions by Tory MSPs Brian Whittle and Miles Briggs aimed at improving training for those to be involved, registering psychiatrists and improving patient safety were all rejected.”
He said further amendments proposed by Labour’s Daniel Johnson and Pam Duncan- Glancy were also rejected along with suggestions from Tory colleague Murdo Fraser and Miles Briggs to establish proper oversight and review mechanisms.
Dr Macdonald insisted:
“The need for improvements in this area of the Bill was highlighted in evidence received by the health committee from professional bodies at Stage 1 and mentioned in its Stage 1 report.
“If the Members’ Bill introduced by LibDem Liam McArthur, backed by the majority of the committee, are really concerned about the gaps in palliative care, why did they reject amendments aimed at assessing and improving palliative care services, such as those by Jackie Baillie?
“The simple fact is that with the pressures already being experienced in palliative care as highlighted by Hospice UK and Marie Curie and the real threat of palliative care beds being closed in Scotland this year, many people will feel under pressure to opt for assisted suicide because they can’t get their palliative care needs met should the assisted dying bill be passed.”
Dr Macdonald said among amendments rejected on Tuesday were:
- Brian Whittle’s amendment to ensure proper training is available for health professionals on the Bill if it becomes law. Pro-Bill MSPs seem to have no interest in reassuring those with genuine concerns or allowing obvious safeguards.
- An amendment which would have created an opt-in register of medics happy to participate in assisted suicide. This would have protected conscience for those opposed & ensured accountability for those involved.
- Murdo Fraser’s amendment to create an independent, external body would be set up to oversee safeguards if assisted suicide is introduced. Ministers can’t be trusted to mark their own homework – this lack of accountability is a recipe for disaster.
- Stephen Kerr’s amendment to ensure hospices, palliative care providers & charities providing end-of-life care would have to be consulted when reviewing his Bill if it passes.
- An amendment that would have required guidance to be drafted about what should happen if assisted suicide drugs fail or there are complications – as happens elsewhere. This ought to concern every MSP.
- An amendment from Michael Marra which would have ensured an independent review of the financial costs of implementing the Bill.
- An amendment from Pam Duncan-Glancy that would have required medics to be trained in the rights of people with disabilities in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
- An amendment that would require annual reporting on the average amount of time assisted suicide deaths take & how often complications occur.
- ALL the amendments that would measure the impact of assisted suicide on palliative care.
Dr Macdonald said:
“The Scottish Parliament needs to take a step back and reject this bill in order to protect those who are most vulnerable, but also all of us who are at risk of dying because the care and support we need is simply not available.
“This is not a safe Bill – it is dangerous and it is the vulnerable who are most adversely impacted by it.”
“Liam McArthur has papered over the cracks in his bill without really resolving the underlying problems. He has rejected numerous proposals put forward in good faith by MSPs because he wants as few barriers as possible to easy access to assisted suicide, but that will lead to serious abuses of the law and scores of inappropriate premature deaths occurring every year.”
In the last three weeks the committee has considered more than 200 amendments
- 66 have been agreed
- 121 have been rejected
- 53 were not moved
- 7 were pre-empted
Dr Macdonald said: “More amendments have been opposed than accepted.”
The controversial Bill faces enormous challenges and in the Stage 1 vote only secured progress by a slim majority in a 70-56 vote.
The health committee was told in October 2024 by Holyrood’s SNP health secretary Neil Gray that his Government’s view: “The bill in its current form is outside the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament.”
He raised particular concern about a section of the Bill that would allow ministers to specify an “approved substance” to be provided to terminally ill people to end their own life.
He said that section appeared “to relate to the reserved matter of medicines, medical supplies and poisons” in the Scotland Act.
The health secretary said several other areas of the bill could relate to reserved regulations of the health professions due to a “fundamental shift” in the role of medical practitioners from “protecting/enhancing patients’ lives to assisting in termination of life”.
He highlighted concerns about a provision of the bill that would allow ministers to specify what qualifications and experience medics would need to be allowed to be involved in assisted dying, as well as a provision that would require medics to take into account a second opinion from a colleague on a termination request.
He also said a section of the bill that would grant a right to conscientious objection could also be outside Holyrood’s devolved powers.
The bill’s policy memorandum notes the possibility of using orders under the Scotland Act 1998, such as a section 30 Order, to implement the bill.
A Section 30 order is a piece of secondary legislation that can be used to increase or decrease – temporarily or permanently – the Scottish Parliament’s legislative authority.
Such an order was used to allow Holyrood to stage the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.
The Scottish Government said “further processes would have to be gone through in order to bring the bill within competence”.
Mr Gray said that the process of a Section 30 order generally takes 12-18 months and requires the cooperation of the UK Government.
