Assisted dying Bill’s a danger to the disabled, warns MSP

WARNING ON RIGHT TO DIE... VIA ZOOM

PLANS to legalise assisted dying for terminally ill Scots are a ‘danger’ to disabled people, Holyrood’s first full-time wheelchairusing MSP has warned.

Pam Duncan-Glancy has raised serious concerns over proposals that would allow those with a terminal diagnosis to end their own lives.

The Labour MSP is the latest to add her voice to the campaign opposed to the Bill which is set to go through the Scottish parliament in the coming months.

Speaking on the BBC’s Debate Night programme, Miss Duncan-Glancy said that instead of focusing on proposals allowing people to die, politicians should be helping to provide a ‘right to life and support’.

Her comments come after it emerged that the proposed Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill would allow patients in remote areas to be assessed for their suitability by doctors via video link, instead of in person.

Analysis of the legislation also suggested it could lead to reduced costs for the health care system in Scotland, following examples in countries such as Canada.

Miss Duncan-Glancy said she had spent ‘a lot of time thinking about’ the assisted dying proposals, but said: ‘If I’m honest, I would rather spend time thinking about people like me having a right to life and support and all the independent living things that come with that. A decent health and social care service that makes sure people are able to live their life in the way that they choose – I’d far rather that we were bringing legislation to the Scottish parliament that would give people a right to life, where they could choose the life they want to live the same way as everyone else.’

She added: ‘I have said this [Bill] is a danger.’

Miss Duncan-Glancy said there were claims of people getting ‘do not resuscitate’ orders during the pandemic purely for being deaf, and ‘this is the sort of circumstance that disabled people are fearing every single day’.

The MSP also raised concerns over the definition of ‘terminally ill’. She said: ‘You start to question what’s terminally ill.

‘How long do you need to be terminally ill? How terminal does it need to be to be ill?

‘You’re looking at a backdrop of a situation in society where disabled people are so far from any kind of equality whatsoever, that there is no safeguard I believe that can be put in any Bill.’

Before the pandemic one person every eight days travelled from the UK to Switzerland to end their own life, according to the charity Dignity in Dying.

Last month, the British Medical Association dropped its opposition to assisted dying and adopted a neutral stance, while a recent poll found 72 per cent of voters in Scotland would back the proposals, with just 14 per cent opposed.

MSPs at the Scottish parliament will vote next year on the legislation put forward by Liberal Democrat Liam McArthur.

Speaking to the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme, Mr McArthur said he believes there is support at Holyrood for the move.

Two previous attempts to bring about assisted dying in Scotland have failed. Mr McArthur said: ‘I detect that there’s been a movement over the course of the last two parliaments, that suggests that the support is there.’

He said he sensed a shift among those who were previously sceptical for a variety reasons, ‘whether through personal experience, whether it’s through having seen what’s happened internationally, or just having had an opportunity to reflect on the issue’.

He insisted he is ‘confident that support is there’.

‘How terminal does it need to be?’