All of us are moved by cases of people suffering from terrible illnesses such as Motor Neuron Disease, but these cases do not provide justification for ripping up long held and essential protections for disabled and vulnerable people.
By treating those who are terminally ill, disabled, or have chronic conditions differently in law, we send a message that their lives are worth less than other people’s lives.
Assisted dying puts vulnerable people at risk of abuse and of coming under pressure to end their lives prematurely. That is why in 2015, MSPs overwhelmingly voted against any change in the law.
In Oregon, around 55% of those ending their lives do so because they fear being a burden on their families or carers. There are cases of those suffering from cancer being refused potential life-saving and life extending treatment, while being offered the poison to kill themselves.
READ MORE: The debate over assisted dying in Scotland is far from settled
In Canada also, some patients have been denied medical and social care but offered drugs to take their own lives.
In the Netherlands and Belgium, which both allow euthanasia, laws have been extended from mentally competent terminally ill adults to non-mentally competent adults and even children. Most recently this was highlighted in Belgium by the case of Godelieva De Troyer (64).
She was physically healthy, but had a long and well-documented history of mental health problems. In 2012, she was euthanised without doctors consulting either her son or the psychiatrist who had cared for her for more than 20 years.
That death is now being considered by the European Court of Human Rights after a complaint by her son.
In the Netherlands, there was a case of a 74-year-old who was suffering from Dementia who was killed in 2016. The doctor allegedly failed to verify that the woman wanted to end her life, sedated the woman and asked her family to hold her down as she administered the lethal drug.
Both these cases show how assisted dying laws are operating way beyond their original intent and how patients who are not mentally competent are being killed.
The euthanasia movement started in Britain during the 19th Century and quickly spread to other countries, reaching its peak in the 1920s and 30s. It is estimated that around 275,000 disabled people were killed under the German T4 euthanasia programme.
After the war, euthanasia was rejected for a generation and international human rights norms were codified to recognise the inherent dignity of all human beings and sanctity of human life.
As Leo Alexander, the Chief Prosecutor at Nuremburg stated: ‘It started with the acceptance by doctors of the idea, basic in the euthanasia movement, that there is such a thing as a life not worthy to be lived’.
Dr Gordon Macdonald is CEO of Care Not Killing
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel