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11 November 2004
The Scottish Council on Human Bioethics is concerned that Jeremy Purvis' "Dying with Dignity" motion1 which will be discussed this afternoon in the Scottish Parliament may in fact undermine the very concept of human dignity.
Dr. Calum MacKellar, the Director of Research of the SCHB stated, in this respect, that "it is wrong to suggest that any person can ever loose his or her human dignity" adding that "the day that society accepts that a person can loose his or her human dignity and therefore no longer deserves to live will be an extremely worrying one for humankind."
Dr. MacKellar also stated that "even though human dignity is a belief, it is a belief that everyone should believe is found in everyone."
The Scottish Council on Human Bioethics concurred, furthermore, that if euthanasia and assisted suicide were accepted by society, the manner in which society viewed both death and disability would change. In this regard, Dr. MacKellar said that "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."
Euthanasia:
Comes from the Greek roots eu (well) and thanatos (death), literally 'to die well' or 'a good death'. The term is generally understood as an intervention (an intentional act or omission) to end the life of a person by someone else who believes that it would be preferable for the person to die than to continue living.2 The key motive is intent. Euthanasia has, as its first objective, to bring about intentionally the death of a person.
The term euthanasia is not defined in Scottish law and would be regarded as murder. In Scotland, murder is a common law offence.
Assisted suicide:
The act whereby a person aids, abets, counsels or procures a suicide or an attempted suicide of another person.
In Scotland, assisted suicide is not specifically defined in legislation. Assisting suicide may constitute the “art and part” of murder or culpable homicide.
1 S2M-1673# Jeremy Purvis: Dying with Dignity: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/sch/motion.result