With the new End of Life Assistance Bill being published in the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics (SCHB) indicated that it was very concerned about the consequences this Bill may have on vulnerable individuals and society.

Indeed, the SCHB recognises that crossing the boundary between acknowledging that death is inevitable and taking active steps to bring about death, changes fundamentally the role of the physician, changes the doctor-patient relationship and changes the role of medicine in society.

In this regard, Dr. Calum MacKellar, Director of Research of the SCHB indicated that “Assisted suicide is unnecessary since physical suffering can now be adequately alleviated in all but the rarest cases by appropriate palliative care. And even in the very exceptional cases where physical suffering does not fully respond to treatment there is the possibility of using artificial transient or (very occasionally) total permanent sedation in patients to keep them asleep in order to address physical and/or mental distress.”

The SCHB also emphasised that vulnerable people need to know that society is committed first and foremost to their well-being, even if this does involve expenditure of time, effort and money. In this respect, Dr. MacKellar said: “Assisted suicide is often only considered when fear is present. A fear of no longer being acceptable to ‘oneself’. However, in a civilised society, the real answer to this fear is to hear the message that one is always unconditionally accepted.”

In addition, Dr. MacKellar indicated that “Scottish society has a very long history of defending the intrinsic equality and human dignity of all its members. It should never accept any reduction of this dignity to a second-class concept of ’self-respect’, which is completely subjective and is so prevalent in the arguments for assisted suicide.” Adding ” It is because countries, such as the Netherlands, no longer understand the concept of the intrinsic value and worth of all human persons that lives are now being considered, in that country, as being unworthy of life which is an extremely dangerous concept for a society to accept.”

Finally, the SCHB is of the opinion that the government should encourage society, comprising an ageing population, to accept that elderly or disabled people may become dependent on others without losing any of their dignity.

The Scottish Council on Human Bioethics was formed in 1997 as an independent, non-partisan, non-religious council composed of physicians, lawyers, 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.

Source
Scottish Council on Human Bioethics