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12 May 2006
The Scottish Council on Human Bioethics is concerned that Lord Joffe’s Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill, which will receive its second reading in the House of Lords on Friday the 12th of May 2006, would undermine the human dignity of the terminally ill.
Dr Calum MacKellar, the Director of Research of the SCHB stated that "it is wrong to suggest that any person can ever lose his or her human dignity" adding that "the day society declares that a person can lose his or her dignity and that his or her life is not worth living will be an extremely worrying one for humankind." Dr MacKellar noted that the effect of making Lord Joffe’s bill legislation would be to make this declaration, and suggest to the terminally ill that their lives are not worth living.
The Scottish Council on Human Bioethics concurred, furthermore, that if assisted suicide were accepted by society, the manner in which society viewed both death and disability would change. Indeed, every disability rights group in the UK is opposed to the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill. 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 health care professionals, whose role has always been to cure and care for their patients, not to help them die."
The SCHB also noted that to watch a loved one die is a very painful thing, and that if assisted suicide were an option there would be psychological pressure on the patient to end the suffering of their loved ones, even though the patient may not want to die. [1] This would be a significant negative addition to the experience of being terminally ill, increasing the suffering of those who would not choose to commit suicide.
Dr MacKellar also stated that "it is inevitable that the safeguards in the bill will eventually fail – Lord Joffe has said he hopes for just such an outcome. This would even happen in the practice of assisted suicide. Research has shown that in 18% of cases in the Netherlands, the physician decided to administer a lethal injection because of complications, making it euthanasia rather than assisted suicide. Euthanasia would creep in even without legislation." [2]
1. See Jonathan Sacks, The Times, Saturday May 6, 2006 ( http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3933-2167011.html)
2. See Groenewoud et al. “Clinical Problems with the Performance of Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide in the Netherlands” ( http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/342/8/551)