Meeting of the Parliament 27 May 2015
I do not accept the premise of that point. The cabinet secretary mentioned that that legal point has not been accepted.
As the Health and Sport Committee heard, we humans are relational—we are community dependent, and our decisions affect the views and decisions of others. In a society in which sporadic thoughts of self-harm and suicide are common, I do not believe that we can allow the law to increase pressure on people to end their life. Even affected individuals who are surrounded by family who care for them may still feel like a burden. The drip-drip effect of that on a person’s psyche could be very potent in their decision-making processes, and some may feel that they have a duty to die. Those who are terminally ill often experience mental health problems such as depression. Depression is an illness and many sufferers report feeling suicidal when they are in the depths of despair. However, with support and treatment they are often later grateful that they did not act on such thoughts when they were in that dark place. We must not allow irreversible decisions to be made when a person is extremely vulnerable; instead we must support and help them in every way possible.
Enacting the bill would be a retrograde step, particularly when good palliative care is available. We must strengthen that care, not erode it. We must not normalise suicide. Since 2011, the Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care has been advocating greater uptake and awareness of the choices and mechanisms, through the good life, good death, good grief alliance, which I support. Doctors and nurses—those potentially charged with administering assisted suicide—are overwhelmingly against the proposal, which ought to serve as a warning to those making the case for it. The bill fundamentally conflicts with the principles of medical care.
At a Health and Sport Committee meeting in January, it was argued that, when considering any legislative proposal, it is essential to reflect on not only the rights that may be conferred on benefactors, but the negative or harmful aspects. In that context, the availability of assisted suicide would add to the psychological distress of patients when they are extremely vulnerable. Members should not just take my word for it. Dr Stephen Hutchison, a former consultant at the Highland Hospice, is “100 per cent” sure that the availability of assisted suicide would compromise the care of patients.
I recognise the intentions of the bill in aiming to introduce additional choice, subject to conditions, for people with terminal, life-shortening conditions. None of us wants to see another human being, or ourselves, in prolonged and severe pain. However, enshrining assisted suicide in law would take us into dangerous territory. It would short-cut proper compassion and destroy our social responsibility. It would be the thin end of a large wedge: the policy memorandum that accompanies the bill explicitly looks forward to widening the categories of those eligible for assisted suicide, which confirms my fears.
Although I accept the good will of those who support it, the bill would put us on a trajectory to a society that no longer places value on life, no longer values the disabled and no longer values the elderly or ill. Where would it end? The bill may well have been introduced in compassion, but it is a dangerous bill and I cannot support it.
15:49