Scotland’s parliament has rejected a move to legislate for assisted suicide by more than a two to one majority.
Described as “poorly thought out” and “badly conceived” by critics, the Assisted Suicide Bill was defeated by 82 votes to 36 when placed before legislators at Holyrood for debate.
Despite being mooted as a means by which terminally ill people – and those with life-shortening illnesses – could ‘die with dignity’, critics of the Bill, originally tabled by Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) Patrick Harvie, pointed out that the legisaltion was wide open to abuses.
Dr Gordon Macdonald of the Care Not Killing group, who offered testimony on the implications of the Bill while it was at the committee stage said that his group, and the 15,000 people who signed a petition against the legislation “do not want the state-sanctioned killing of old, ill and disabled people of all impairment”.
He added: “We believe the public needs to be fully aware of all the arguments and not just be influenced by the knee-jerk emotional arguments about so-called dignity in death from those who back the Bill.”
Dr Macdonald’s words were backed by a representative of disabled people in Scotland.
Catherine Garrod, of the campaigning group Not Dead Yet, said: “Disabled people oppose assisted suicide because it gives the message that our lives are not worth living. Disabled people want assistance to live, investment in health and social care, good palliative care, support for independent living and the right to equality not assisted suicide.”
The British Medical Association, the Royal College of Physicians, the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Association for Palliative Medicine and the British Geriatric Society all expressed opposition to the Scottish Bill.