Killing the elderly and sick will help balance the books! The truth has emerged as Liam McArthur MSP has confirmed his view that the cost of assisted suicide in Scotland, including the requisite lethal drugs, will be met by the corresponding reduction in demand for end-of-life care.
The architect of Scotland’s assisted suicide Bill told Holyrood’s Finance and Public Administration Committee that potential savings in the provision of palliative care would render his Bill “cost-neutral”.
McArthur prefaced his opening statement to MSPs by declaring that he received financial backing from Dignity in Dying, Humanist Society Scotland and Friends at the End in pursuit of his campaign.
Members of the Committee questioned McArthur about the costings in his Financial Memorandum, published to accompany his Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill.
Referring to the cost of lethal drugs for assisted suicide, the memorandum states: “Community Pharmacy Scotland estimated that, as an example, one substance that may be used in such circumstances would cost an estimated £80 for each dose provided to a terminally ill adult to end their own life.
“On the basis of the estimate of 25 people having an assisted death in year one following the Bill’s enactment, rising to 400 by year 20 it can be estimated that the cost of the required substances would be around £2000 in year one, rising to £32,000 per year by year 20.”
The document concluded that the cost of enacting the Bill would be negated by any savings made “where palliative care is not, or is no longer, required” because those needing it have been helped to kill themselves.
McArthur informed MSPs the memorandum acknowledged that “the legislation is likely to result in savings as well as costs and that broadly speaking it is anticipated to be cost neutral.