Meeting of the Parliament 11 March 2026 [Draft]
My amendment 224 is a straightforward amendment that seeks to ensure that, after a patient dies from the lethal drugs injected, the doctor’s final statement contains sufficient information on those drugs for insurance claims, regulatory review and investigations. That will improve transparency, traceability and accountability. From the evidence that was provided at the committee stage on assisted dying abroad, we know that, unfortunately, there are cases of malpractice. In those situations, it is important that police forces and others have that basic information available.
Dr Ramona Coelho serves on the Medical Assistance in Dying Death Review Committee, which works with the province of Ontario’s Office of the Chief Coroner to identify and address public safety concerns. She was asked to give evidence to the Scottish Parliament and to reflect on her experience of reviewing the practice of MAID. She advised MSPs that, in Ontario alone, more than 400 violations of MAID have been identified since 2018, and that doctors with many complaints to their names have been allowed to continue in their practice. No matter what members’ position is on the workability of the bill, we will all be keen to use all the means at our disposal to make it harder for the same issues to be replicated in Scotland.
The recording of information would also be relevant for identifying trends in complications that are experienced by patients during the process of dying from lethal drugs. Although, unfortunately, there are no studies into the physical experience of patients as they go through assisted dying, we know that there can be a crossover with drugs that are used on death row, which have undergone research. It is suggested that, due to the combination of the drugs that are used and their side effects, prisoners are conscious and possibly aware of pain but unable to communicate. Palliative care experts warn that questions remain unanswered as to whether patients who are dying with the same or similar combinations of drugs under assisted dying in fact feel any painful sensations.