Response to the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill
Adults (Scotland) Bill
Short Survey - Call for Views (Submitted 15 August 2024).
What is your name? John Ling.
What is your email address? john@johnling.co.uk
Are you responding as an individual or on behalf of an
organization? Individual.
Do you live in Scotland? No.
Which of the following best reflects your views on the Bill?
Strongly oppose.
Which of the following factors are most important to you when
considering the issue of assisted dying? Please rank up to
three options.
1] Risk of eligibility being broadened and safeguards
reduced over time.
2] Impact on healthcare professionals and the doctor/patient
relationship.
3] Risk of devaluing lives of vulnerable groups.
Do you have any other comments on the Bill? Please use this
textbox to provide your answer:
Tough safeguards cannot be written down in law - eligibility
criteria always expand. Think historically of the
Netherlands and Belgium, now Canada is the world's
fastest-growing assisted suicide jurisdiction. Who is next,
Scotland?
Legalizing assisted dying will wreck the medical/healthcare
professions. The role of doctors will shift from life
healers to life terminators. Moreover, the historic
patient-doctor relationship of trust and respect would end.
That would be grotesque.
The vulnerable would be at extra risk. Palliative care, the
great compassionate alternative to assisted dying, would be
withheld on grounds of cost, value
and utility. The disabled would be pushed to the front of
the queue.
Scotland, like every other country, does not require assisted
dying. Its support is driven by a false view of compassion
and autonomy. Legalizing it would be a callous blot on
Scottish medical history.