With Scotland getting closer to legalising assisted suicide, one man who knows a lot about the subject has told Scots he is acting as a "canary in the coal mine" to warn of the dangers.
A Canadian man who recorded hospital staff offering him assisted suicide, despite him being clear he did not wish to end his life, has urged Scotland not to follow Canada down the “dark path” of introducing assisted dying.
As MSPs prepare to debate and vote on Liam McArthur’s Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill next month, Roger Foley sent a message to Scotland, saying “You do not have to venture down the dark path Canada, and other nations, have followed. Indeed, you have the chance to show there are better ways of meeting dying people’s needs”.
In 2018, Foley, a Canadian man with a chronic neurological disease, recorded hospital staff offering him assistance in suicide despite him being clear that he wanted assistance to live at home and not to end his life. After telling a member of staff that he would be fine if he just had funding, the staff member said “But if you weren’t, you, just, you can just apply to get an assisted, if you want to end your life, like you know what I mean. You don’t have to do it in some dramatic manner, you can apply for assisted, you know…”.
Foley has been clear that he does not want to die. He told the New York Post “I’ve been pressured to do an assisted suicide”.
He is now calling upon his experience to warn Scotland not to follow Canada, where legislation allowing euthanasia and assisted suicide was passed in 2016. However, in 2021, the Canadian Parliament repealed the requirement that the natural death of those applying for euthanasia or assisted suicide be “reasonably foreseeable”. Legislation was introduced in February 2024 so that euthanasia and assisted suicide would become legal on the grounds of mental health alone in March 2027.
Foley explained that “As Canada has expanded its assisted dying law, I have faced neglect, verbal abuse, and denial of essential care. I’ve been told my care needs are too much work, and my life has been devalued”.
“Worse still, I have been approached and told by healthcare staff to consider opting for Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD). Instead of offering compassionate support to alleviate my suffering, it is suggested to me that I should end my life. I find this deeply hurtful” he said.
“I believe my experience is a canary in the coal mine – a warning of the abuses that occur under a system that pressures vulnerable individuals into seeing death as the only option. This is a concern I’d urge you to consider as you debate this issue”.
“I believe that what has happened under Canada’s regime would occur in Scotland if Liam McArthur’s Bill became law”, he added.
“The safest thing Scotland can do to protect its vulnerable citizens is to never introduce an assisted dying regime”.