LEICESTER, United Kingdom – In Scotland, the bishops’ conference has submitted evidence to the Scottish Parliament Health, Social Care and Sport Committee on a proposal to legalize assisted suicide.
Liam McArthur, a member of the Scottish Parliament, introduced the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill earlier this year. It would allow terminally ill adults in Scotland to lawfully request assistance of health professionals to end their own life.
To be eligible to be provided with assistance to end their life, the proposed law says a person must be terminally ill and have an advanced and progressive disease, illness or condition which they cannot recover from, and which is expected to cause their premature death; be aged 16 or over; have been resident in Scotland for at least 12 months; be registered with a General Practitioner’s office in Scotland, and have sufficient capacity to make and understand the decision.
The Bill also says two doctors are required to assess a person as being eligible to be provided with assistance to end their own life, and the doctors must be satisfied that a person is acting voluntarily, without being coerced or pressured.
Responding to requests for opinions on the proposed legislation, the bishops said that “assisted suicide attacks human dignity and results in human life being increasingly valued on the basis of its efficiency and utility,” adding implicit in legal assisted suicide is the idea that “an individual can lose their value and worth.”
The bishops said it was “significant” that the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Association of Palliative Medicine in the UK are both opposed to assisted suicide and euthanasia.
The bishops’ submission touched on the experience of other countries and states where assisted suicide and/or euthanasia is legal, including Canada, the Netherlands, and Oregon, with the bishops issuing a warning: “No matter how well-intentioned safeguards are, it is impossible for any government to draft assisted suicide laws which include legal protection from future expansion of those laws.”
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The bishops listed risk of social coercion, risk of devaluing lives of vulnerable groups, and the sanctity of life as their biggest concerns about the proposed legislation.
Their statement also said legalizing assisted dying undermines efforts to provide good palliative care.
“Palliative medicine constitutes a precious and crucial instrument in the care of patients during the most painful, agonizing, chronic, and terminal stages of illness,” the statement says.
“Palliative care is an authentic expression of the human activity of providing care, the tangible symbol of the compassionate remaining at the side of the suffering person,” the bishops say.
They said the proposed legislation “to be blunt, provides a quick, cheap alternative to palliative care.”
“This is supported by claims in Mr. McArthur’s proposal for a Bill, which chillingly conceded that it is cheaper to end life than to provide care. The focus must be on providing care, not providing a cheap death,” the statement adds.
The bishops express grave concerns about the serious consequences of legal assisted suicide for the most vulnerable in society, stating “when the elderly and disabled express concerns about being a burden, the appropriate response is not to suggest that they have a duty to die; rather, it is to commit to meeting their needs and providing the care and compassion to help them live.”
The Catholic leaders pointed out the proposed legislation would undermine efforts to prevent people from killing themselves, saying the Bill suggests sometimes suicide “is an appropriate response to an individual’s circumstances, worries and anxieties.”
“We must ask ourselves the question: What future for suicide prevention [is] in a Scotland where suicide is supported by the state?” they ask.
“If Scotland establishes the provision of death on demand and this becomes normal practice, how will that not become a cultural expectation for the vulnerable, including the elderly, disabled, and lonely?” ask the Scottish bishops.
Scotland’s Catholic leaders said assisted suicide undermines suicide prevention, the provision of palliative care, trust in doctors and puts pressure on vulnerable people to end their lives prematurely.
“The poor and vulnerable are already struggling to live. Parliamentarians in Scotland ought to offer them care and support to live, not a concoction of drugs to die. Killing is not the solution to ill-health, poverty or any other social challenges. The state ought to support the provision of care, not deliberate killing, for those at the end of life,” their submission to the Scottish parliament said.
Although the Scottish bishops were responding to proposed legislation that would only affect Scotland, the issue might soon be proposed to the wider United Kingdom.
Keir Starmer became the new prime minister after the July 4 British national elections.
Earlier this year, Starmer said he was “personally committed” to changing the laws in the country which make assisted suicide and euthanasia illegal.
Follow Charles Collins on X: @CharlesinRome
