15 Morningside Road, Edinburgh EH10 4DP, Tel: 0131 447 6394 or 0774 298 4459
6 June 2003
The Scottish Council on Human Bioethics considers Lord Joffe's proposed Patient (Assisted Dying) Bill1, which is intended to cover England, Wales and Scotland as being misguided. The Bill is due to have its second reading on 6 June 2003 and would enable a physician to undertake, at a person's written request, both assisted suicide (providing the means to a person to end his or her life) and euthanasia (directly ending a person's life)2.
However, the SCHB notes that euthanasia and assisted suicide are not reserved to the Westminster Parliament under the Scotland Act 1998. In this regard, Dr. MacKellar indicated that "it would be inappropriate for this Assisted Dying Bill to be addressed in Westminster without any suitable discussion taking place in the Scottish Parliament" adding "We will be contacting the Scottish Lords about this".
Furthermore, the SCHB, is of the opinion that the Bill is ill-advised in assuming that assisted dying is a suitable solution to the fears relating to suffering as a patient approaches death. This is because it does not take proper consideration of developments in the hospice movement and palliative care which allow pain and distressing symptoms of disease to be adequately alleviated in all but the most extreme cases.
Dr. Calum MacKellar, the Director of Research of the SCHB indicated, in this respect, that "the provision of hospice and palliative care have clearly shown that there is a positive alternative to assisted dying which involves killing pain rather than killing patients."
The Scottish Council on Human Bioethics concurred, furthermore, that if the Bill was accepted, the manner in which society views both death and disability would change. People who are difficult or costly to care for may then be seen as second class citizens. In addition, it would fundamentally change the role of doctors and other healthcare professionals, whose role has always been to cure and care for their patients, not to help them die.
The near unanimity of European countries do not accept assisted dying. In a document covering euthanasia and assisted suicide, published on 20 January 2003, containing the replies to a questionnaire from 34 countries of the Council of Europe (which currently comprises 45 member states) and the USA, only Belgium and the Netherlands indicated that active euthanasia was permissible in their legislation (though it remains unlawful).
With respect to assisted suicide, only three countries (The Netherlands, Estonia and Switzerland) indicated that their legislation would not regard such an undertaking as an offence provided certain conditions were met3.
Note: The Scottish Council on Human Bioethics was formed in 1997 as an independent, non-partisan council composed of physicians, lawyers, psychologists, ethicists and other professionals from disciplines associated with medical ethics. The principles to which the SCHB subscribes are set out in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted and proclaimed by the UN General Assembly by resolution 217A (III) on 10 December 1948.
Contact: Dr. Calum MacKellar, Scottish Council on Human Bioethics, Eric Liddell Centre, 15 Morningside Road, Edinburgh EH10 4DP, Tel: 0131 447 6394, E-mail (provisional): schb@mail.com
1Patient (Assisted Dying) Bill 2003, http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200203/ldbills/037/2003037.pdf
2Patient (Assisted Dying) Bill [HL], p.2.
3This document on euthanasia can be found at http://www.coe.int/bioethics. Look for euthanasia