Church of Scotland's position on the proposed End of Life Assistance Bill.

The Church of Scotland today urged MSPs to reject the proposed Lend of Life Assistance (Scotland) Bill, to be debated in the Scottish Parliament on Thursday 25th November.

Rev Ian Galloway, Convener of the Church and Society Council of the Kirk drew the attention of MSPs to the Committee which has undertaken intense scrutiny of this proposed legislation. He said: “The conclusions of the Committee are unequivocal: no change of the law in this regard is either required or desirable, as they say in their report that “the Committee was not persuaded that the case had been made …and, accordingly, does not recommend the general principles of the Bill to the Parliament.”

The ELA Scotland Bill proposes that, under certain circumstances, assistance to end their lives should be allowed for those who wish to. The Church argues that any legislation which endorses the deliberate ending of a human life undermines us as a society. The worth and dignity of every human life needs to be emphasised and celebrated; in particular, the deliberate ending of life would be a matter to be deplored if person was perceived (or perceived themselves) as merely a burden.

Legislation of the type proposed in the End of Life Assistance (Scotland) Bill represents much more than simply a tinkering with the law. Breaching as it does the societal prohibition on the taking of human life, it carries implications for attitudes to many aspects of health and social care, not simply for the determined few who are pushing for change.

Rev Galloway continued: “An important aspect of our life as a society is in caring for the most vulnerable in society. While we are sympathetic towards the fears and desires of those who may be afraid of a painful death, what is proposed in this Bill is not the solution. Rather, there is a necessity to ensure that, as far as possible, all have access to good palliative care, which, in the widest sense, involves caring not just for the physical but also the emotional and the physical and spiritual needs of people coming towards the end of their lives.”

Scots End-of-life Bill could lead to 1,000 deaths a year

Scots End of-life Bill could lead to 1,000 deaths a year. These are really stark projections of people presumably willing to commit suicide per year in Scotland. Palliative care nurses are also warning that if passed, this legislation would bring into Scotland, people willing to end their lives, pretty much in the same way as people travel to Switzerland. Cristina Odone, from the Centre for Policy Studies, has recently published a report starting that this legislation would make elderly and frail people extremely vulnerable to succomb to pressures for assited suicide. If life is considered expendible, because some people cannot contribute on economical and social terms to society, and there is a lgeal way of ending such lives, there might always be the temptation to view suicide as a normal way out. However, this position is not acceptable within a Christian outlook on life, that values everyone's contribution to society and that considers life sacred.

Fresh hope for severely brain damaged patients

Thanks to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) Dr. Owen a neuro-scientist from Cambridge University has been able to communicate with a patient who had been previously considered to be in a vegetative state. Although the equipment is not portable and cannot be used for frequent communication it seems that even when people seem to be locked into vegetative states, it is possible through suitable technology to communicate with them. This opens up again fresh avenues of research into what is meant by "quality of life". Surely if a person can communicate, even through a machine, we can no longer state that the person is in a "vegetative state". Read more about this by following the link Fresh hope for severely brain damaged patients.

Protests outside the Scottish Parliament

Protesters against the proposed end -of -life bill gathered aoutside the Scottish Parliament. This protest was particularly poignant becuase  it was organised by dissabled people who see the proposed bill as eroding their right to life. This was taking place as debates within parliament were addressing the same issues. It was wonderful to witness the agency with which individulas irrespective of their dissability were fully engaged in exercising their civic rights.  For a short film about the protest, please follow this link.

Does the proposed End of Life Bill have real support?

The assisted suicide bill has received the support of a humanist group however as noted in the article published by the Christian Institute in the following link, Scots end-of-life Bill backed by humanists the data presented support the claim that the majority of people in Scotland do not support the end of life bill. "Care not Killing" delivered over 14,000 postcards against the proposed Bill and only in July, Holyrood released data of a poll that showed that the majority of those in the study did not approve the proposed Bill. Allegations of support might be branded back and forth, but, the postcards and the polls are evidence of involvement against the proposed Bill.

Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide

John Wyatt has recently written a very good article on euthanasia and assisted suicied in the Cambridge Papers: towards a Biblical Mind collection. The paper argues that the arguments in favour of assisted suicide are no longer centred on unbearable suffering or pain. Instead proposers of assisted suicide and euthanasia, are stressing now the important of choice and control over the time and manner of death. This is coupled says Wyatt with "fears about the sociala dn economic consequences of increasing numbers of elderly and dependent individuals". Read the full abstract and access to the paper following this link.

Resources on End of Life Issues

The UK Clinical Ethics Network provides extremely useful information on the current frameworks available to make ethical decisions concerning end of life issues. Their website links to national policy and guidelines on end of life as well as providing links to a number of medical guidelines approved by medical professional bodies on end of life issues. this website is a useful resource.