The Bishops’ Conference of Scotland has submitted evidence to the Scottish Parliament Health, Social Care and Sport Committee on a proposal to legalise assisted suicide in Scotland. You can read the full submission, below.

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Responding to the call for views on the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill, the bishops said that “assisted suicide attacks human dignity and results in human life being increasingly valued on the basis of its efficiency and utility”, adding that, implicit in legal assisted suicide is the idea that “an individual can lose their value and worth.”

The bishops express grave concerns about the serious consequences of legal assisted suicide for the most vulnerable in society, stating that, “when the elderly and disabled express concerns about being a burden, the appropriate response is not to suggest that they have a duty to die; rather, it is to commit to meeting their needs and providing the care and compassion to help them live. If Scotland establishes the provision of death on demand and this becomes normal practice, how will that not become a cultural expectation for the vulnerable, including the elderly, disabled, and lonely?”

The bishops also quoted Samaritanus bonus, a letter by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on the care of persons in the critical and terminal phases of life, saying that proponents of assisted suicide peddled a “false understanding of compassion”, adding that a correct understanding of compassion “consists not in causing death, but in embracing the sick, in supporting them in their difficulties, in offering them affection, attention, and the means to alleviate their suffering.”

The submission touched on the experience of other countries and states where assisted suicide and/or euthanasia is legal, including Canada, the Netherlands, and Oregon, with the bishops issuing a warning that, “No matter how well intentioned safeguards are, it is impossible for any government to draft assisted suicide laws which include legal protection from future expansion of those laws.”

The bishops said that it was “significant” that the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Association of Palliative Medicine in the UK are both opposed to assisted suicide and euthanasia.

The Bill, introduced by Liam McArthur MSP, has attracted widespread criticism from experts for adopting an extremely broad definition of terminal illness which, in practice, is expected to include diabetes, dementia, and anorexia.

In conclusion, the bishops said that “assisted suicide undermines suicide prevention, the provision of palliative care, trust in doctors and puts pressure on vulnerable people to end their lives prematurely.” The bishops added: “The poor and vulnerable are already struggling to live. Parliamentarians in Scotland ought to offer them care and support to live, not a concoction of drugs to die. Killing is not the solution to ill-health, poverty or any other social challenges. The state ought to support the provision of care, not deliberate killing, for those at the end of life.”

The Committee will now consider all responses and take oral evidence from key experts and stakeholders in the coming months before publishing a report for MSPs.

Read the ​full ​text of the ​BCOS Response here.