The push to impose assisted suicide on Scotland continues to generate pushback from pro-lifers. Naïve support for a change in the law on assisted suicide is “flawed” and “dangerous”, an expert in palliative care has warned.
Dr Amy Profitt, former President of the Association for Palliative Medicine, told the Daily Mail that current proposals on assisted suicide in the UK contained too many “unknowns and questions” for the public to make an informed decision.
Back in August, the Law Society of Scotland identified “serious issues” with Liam McArthur’s Assisted Dying Bill in its response to Holyrood’s call for evidence on the MSP’s plans.
Outlining her worries over the issue, Dr Profitt said it appeared that “doctors working for the NHS – the same doctors whose job it is to protect the most sick and vulnerable – would be charged with helping many take their own lives”.
“Yet none of us in the NHS is trained to spot whether someone is being coerced into ending their own life.
“Nor are we qualified to help those who want to end it all not because they are facing impending death but because they feel they are simply too much of a burden on society.”