I NOTE Care Not Killing describes the Assisted Suicide Bill as unnecessary, uncontrollable and unethical ("Suicide proposals 'unethical and not necessary'", The Herald, October 22).
It is wrong on all counts.
Unnecessary? Research shows that each year in Scotland at least 60 terminally-ill patients take their own lives on account of unendurable suffering, not infrequently being forced into violent means in order to do so. The bill would do away with those agonies. It would spare both the individual and those who love them such a wretched dilemma.
Uncontrollable? Experience elsewhere, notably Oregon, shows it is perfectly feasible to enact such legislation without a wholesale massacre of the innocents ensuing. Since 1997, 1,173 individuals there have received prescriptions to allow them to end their lives with dignity. It is noteworthy that only 752 then did so.
Unethical? There is substantial moral equivalence in this debate and, in light of the available evidence, it is perfectly legitimate to arrive at differing conclusions, based upon one's experience and world view. Neither side has a monopoly on morality. Claiming the ethical high ground only demeans the claimant.
Dr Bob Scott,
Registered Humanist celebrant, Humanist Society Scotland, Creitendam Lodge,
Balmaha Road, Drymen
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