Scottish Catholic Observer

The letter says the signees are ‘most concerned by the bill before the House of Commons to legalise what is being called “assisted dying.”’

“We believe such proposals devalue the most vulnerable in society,” it states. “We regularly come across patients who feel a burden to their relatives and to society because of their health and social care needs. These patients fit the criteria being proposed for being supplied with lethal drugs to end their lives.”

“They are mentally competent and are not, at least on the surface, being coerced by others to end their lives. But they may be under pressure from within to remove themselves as a burden on their hard-pressed families.

“We fear that if Parliament were to legalise assisted suicide for terminally ill people, such pressures would be given free rein. Most families are loving and caring, but some are not.”

Paul Tully, general secretary of the SPUC pro-life group, said: “The doctors oppose the bill out of concern for the vast majority of people who, despite their difficulties, do not want to end their lives prematurely. This is a very important statement, and we encourage people to draw their MPs’ attention to it in the run-up to the 11 September debate on the Marris bill.

“We are also concerned that doctors who do not wish to help people commit suicide will have little scope to opt-out. In the case of assisted suicide, a doctor may be required to sign the declaration required before a patient is given a lethal dose, whether or not the doctor has a profound moral objections to assisting in suicide.”

Before the summer, MSPs rejected a bill to legalise assisted suicide in Scotland, a proposed change to the law opposed by the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland and groups including Care Not Killing to which SPUC Scotland belongs.

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