The Scottish Catholic Bishops’ Conference has slammed proposals to legalise assisted suicide in the country, arguing the bill promotes a “false understanding of compassion”.
Mercy, properly understood, “does not consist in causing death, but in embracing the sick, supporting them in their difficulties, offering them affection and care, and providing the means to alleviate their suffering,” the bishops declare. statement.
The bishops argue that a bill allowing euthanasia for the terminally ill would have serious consequences for human dignity because it would undermine “trust in doctors” and put “vulnerable people under pressure to end their life prematurely”.
The Bill, introduced by Liam MacArthur MP, has also been opposed by the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Society for Palliative Care, who say the Bill’s definition of terminal illness is too broad and is likely to include diabetes, dementia and anorexia.
Have you thought about death? Canadian doctors urged to talk to patients about medically assisted dyinghttps://t.co/AIs45Z7szO
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In a statement, the bishops said that when they are “concerned that elderly or disabled people are becoming a burden,” “the appropriate response is not to suggest that they have an obligation to die, but rather to focus on meeting their needs and providing the care and compassion that enables them to live.”
“The poor and vulnerable are already struggling to survive,” the statement said. “Scottish MPs should be giving them the care and support they need to live, not dispensing drugs to kill them.”
“Murder is not a solution to disease, poverty or other social problems,” the prelates added. “The state should support the provision of care to people in the terminal stage, not their deliberate killing.”
If Scotland allows death on demand and it becomes normal practice, the bishops question “why should this not become a cultural expectation for vulnerable people – the elderly, disabled and lonely?”
The bishops argue that assisted suicide violates human dignity by downplaying the inherent value of human life, as it suggests that a life is only valuable for its “efficiency and usefulness,” adding that implicit in legal assisted suicide is the idea that individuals can lose their “worth and dignity.”
The bishops submitted evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, drawing on the experience of other countries and states where assisted suicide and euthanasia are legal, including Canada, the Netherlands and Oregon.
“It is impossible for any government to draft assisted suicide laws that include legal protections from future expansion of the law, however well-intentioned the safeguards may be,” they said.
