Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Act
Early in 2023 Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, will introduce his private member’s bill on assisted dying to the Scottish Parliament, having gained cross-party support from 36 MSPs (and the support of 76% of respondents to the public consultation).
The Medical Advisory Group (MAG) was asked to advise on the drafting of an assisted-dying law and recommended that two independent doctors would be required to assess whether the person seeking an assisted death had the mental capacity to make such a decision. The two doctors responsible for co-ordinating the assisted-dying process must be on the register of the General Medical Council and have, at least, successfully completed Foundation Year 1 year of their training, their first year after medical study at university. It seems very onerous to place such a responsibility on inexperienced, and probably young shoulders.
It is understood that there would be no compulsion on doctors to participate in the process; they would have the right to conscientious objection. The patient in that case would have the right to be referred to a participating Health Care Professional (HCP) who has been trained.
The two doctors would need to satisfy themselves that:
– the person is at least 16 years old (legally an adult in Scotland) and is voluntarily requesting an assisted death;
– the person has a diagnosis of a terminal illness; disability alone is not a qualifying criterion; the choice would only be available to a disabled person if they also have a terminal illness and death is foreseeable;
– at the time of the assisted death the person continues to have the mental capacity to make such a decision; if not, they are no longer eligible for assisted death and the procedure must stop;
– the applicant has again confirmed that they wish to proceed.
The applicant must self-administer the assisted dying substance either orally or by a delivery system. It would continue to be a criminal offence to end someone’s life directly.
The Medical Advisory Group has reported on how the safeguards should be enacted and what procedures should be followed. When an applicant requests information on assisted dying they must be counselled about the availability of alternative approaches, including palliative care. Throughout the whole process, the patient must be advised that palliative care and other options are still available. The experience in other countries is that many do choose palliative care and not assisted dying. The Group recommend that palliative care should be made more readily available and more financial resources allocated for it.
Assisted dying is legal in Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Canada, Switzerland, New Zealand, some states in Australia, and a number of US states. The Medical Advisory Group states that, if their recommended safeguards are in place, no “slippery slope” will follow as the years pass by (see Notes and Comment in this Magazine for November 2022, “Canada’s Slippery Slope”).
The Medical Advisory Group report appears to be comprehensive and full of safeguards and their guidance, if adopted, should make any subsequent law as free from abuse as is reasonably foreseeable. However, they have done it on the premise that assisted dying is an acceptable and compassionate end-of-life choice. The fact remains that it is assisted suicide and should be resisted as a wilful contravention of the Sixth Commandment. We do not say, “Thou shalt not kill”, without compassion; some of us have wept at the bedside of a suffering, dying, loved one, but God’s law is clear and must be obeyed, whatever the circumstances. FRD
Historic Legal Cases
The investigation of faults and crimes of the past has become increasingly commonplace in recent times. A 97-year-old German woman has just been convicted of being a secretary in a concentration camp, and thus of being complicit in 10 000 murders between 1943 and 1945. She was given a two-year suspended sentence. A 75-year-old UK man has just been convicted of rape and murder committed in 1975; while another man aged 80 was recently jailed for the “Dalmagarry” murders of 1976. In the last few months, the Australian police have identified the Bondi rapist who committed his crimes between 1985 and 2001, and died in February 2022. In Britain, there is an ongoing “Infected Blood Inquiry” into people, mainly haemophiliacs, who received infected blood in the 1970s and 1980s. An earlier Scottish Penrose Inquiry on the same issue concluded in 2015 but did not give satisfaction.
While appreciating the desire for justice, even when long-delayed, one does question the resources of time, money, and ability that must have been expended on many such investigations. Human justice is not intended to supplant the Day of Judgement, and the main focus must always be on the active wrong-doers of the present rather than elderly and deceased criminals of the past. It should be sobering to those involved in present-day evils – particularly abortion and transgender – to think that human justice may catch up with them in their old age but it would be more useful to stop them in their evil tracks now. Historic cases can be a convenient diversion from present duty. There is another “judgement seat” before which we must all appear, and many who are active in the pursuit and prosecution of others are themselves far from ready to appear before Christ. DWBS