In the forefront of the campaign against the Bill is Our Duty of Care (ODOC) an alliance of healthcare professionals
A former palliative medicine registrar now working in medical ethics, said:
“We have campaigned to maintain medical opposition to assisted suicide. Currently the law prohibits the intentional taking of life by an individual or by the state. Why is that? Because of the incredibly high value and worth that society places on all human life, without exception.
“The primary danger of assisted suicide is that individual lives are devalued by society because they are ill, disabled, confused or that their contribution to society is perceived to be minimal.
“The secondary danger is that terminally ill and disabled individuals may begin to devalue themselves because of the burden that they perceive they are to society. In a cruel twist, possible legislation on assisted suicide, that is designed to empower, may have the effect of eroding the autonomy of the most vulnerable.”
“We are encouraged that ordinary doctors and nurses from across Scotland have joined together to send a definite message to MSPs.
“We do understand that there is suffering at the end of life but this should drive us as a society, not to provide assisted suicide, but instead well-funded, accessible, high quality palliative care for all.”
Care Not Killing is an umbrella group of organisations, opposing the Bill.
The chief executive, said:
“It is welcome that doctors are expressing their opposition to the intentional killing of patients by medical professionals. For over 2,000 years the underlying ethic of medicine has been to ‘do no harm’, preserve life and alleviate suffering by seeking to heal or palliate. For doctors to facilitate the deaths of their patients is to betray their professional responsibilities and will prepare the ground for more pressure to be applied on disabled people, the elderly and others who are in a vulnerable situation to end their lives prematurely.
“As we have seen with the issue of Covid 19 in care homes, it is far too easy for politicians, NHS managers or other bureaucrats operating under workload or resourcing pressures to write off people and make subjective value judgements about the quality of life of those who are elderly or disabled. Some Scottish academics have already raised the issue of the financial savings which could be made in health budgets by legalising assisted suicide or euthanasia and in Canada official figures for savings made from the introduction of euthanasia of Can$140m have been published by the Government. The prospect of financial pressures corrupting medicine and pressurising people into an early death, should not be overlooked. Rather than legalising assisted suicide, we should be investing more resources to ensure everyone who needs it in Scotland can access proper palliative care.”
Speaking from the painful personal experience of losing four children – three to terminal illness
The Former MP and MSP is urging MSPs to vote against the bill.
“ I have probably had more than my fair share of deaths in my family, having suffered the loss of four children, three of them as the result of terminal illness.
“However, I found the standard of NHS care to be excellent and the standard of palliative care in our local Strathcarron Hospice was first class. 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.”
A former President of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in Glasgow said:
“Medicalised killing should never find a place as a healthcare option. It runs counter to every instinct involved in medical training and practice.
“I come to this issue from the background of a career in surgical oncology. I had the privilege of helping manage hundreds of patients with life-limiting illnesses.
“I was able to provide support to ease the process of death via high quality palliative care.
“In every jurisdiction that has permitted either assisted suicide and/or euthanasia, unbearable physical suffering and poor pain control are rarely the reasons people seek an assisted death.
CEO of Humanists Against Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia (HAASE) said:
“Many humanists oppose legalised assisted suicide and euthanasia. If we take the original meaning of humanist – to be human-centred – legalised assisted suicide like that proposed by Liam McArthur is an anathema to humanism. In the words of humanist sociologist Emile Durkheim, to allow any form of suicide ‘denies this religion of humanity’.
“Assisted suicide and euthanasia are often presented as shiny new modern ideas held back only by backwards religious sentiments. It is worth recalling that euthanasia was, in the past, seen as a branch of eugenics, another idea seen as ‘progressive’ at the time. We need to think again – and think hard – about this issue.
“And anyone thinking deeply about the issue will oppose it because:
Director of Research of the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics, said:
“Assisted dying denies dignity in dying and the inherent dignity of life.
“Choosing assisted dying means deciding that my life no longer has any meaning, worth or value.
“Assisted suicide undermines the basis of the whole of society in order to fulfil the fundamentalist demands of a very small minority and promotes the idea that if a person is of no use they should be killed.
”Assisted suicide promotes the idea that there is no place for lives that are dependant on others and that to be dependant on others is unacceptable.
“A “Right to Die” on behalf of an individual implies a “Right to Kill” on behalf of society. All members of society will then share in the responsibility of the killing.”
Care Not Killing was set up in 2006 as an alliance of individuals and organisations which brings together disability and human rights groups, healthcare providers, and faith-based bodies, with the aims of promoting more and better palliative care; ensuring that existing laws against euthanasia and assisted suicide are not weakened or repealed; and helping the public to understand the consequences of any further weakening of the law.
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