McArthur to steer assisted dying bill through stage two of scrutiny

On Tuesday, MSPs on the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee will kick off their scrutiny of Liam McArthur MSP’s Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill.

The committee has set aside four meetings to vote on amendments to the legislation. Mr McArthur will speak on all amendments, indicating whether he backs them, before members of the committee vote.

Mr McArthur has lodged a number of his own amendments which respond both to points raised by the Committee's Stage 1 Report and the input and advice of medical, legal and care organisations Mr McArthur has met with in the months since his Bill passed its Stage 1 vote.

These amendments include clarifying that a person is not terminally ill only because they have a disability or mental disorder, that doctors can request information from health and social care professionals involved in treating a patient when considering if a person is eligible for an assisted death and that Scottish Ministers can determine the level of qualification and experience a registered medical practitioner or registered nurse performing the role of authorised health professional must have.

Additionally Liam McArthur MSP's amendments introduce the following provisions:

• A "no-duty to participate directly in assisted dying" clause for health care professionals. This replaces the previous conscientious objection provision in the Bill. Alongside the training that any health care professional will complete in order to undertake assisted dying provision, this has the effect of creating an 'opt in' system rather than it being the responsibility of medical professionals to 'opt out'.

• Extending the offence of coercion to cover all stages of the assisted dying process including administration of medication. Previously the new offence applied only to earlier stages in the application process. Adding to the offence already in the Bill of coercing or pressuring a terminally ill adult into making a first or second declaration, is a new offence of coercing or pressuring a terminally ill adult into using an approved substance.

• A duty on Scottish ministers to provide information to terminally ill adults, health and care professionals and the general public and to ensure that information is accessible and understandable.

• Inclusion on death certificates of the approved substance provided to an individual in addition to the terminal illness that contributed to their death.

Mr McArthur has also indicated that he will support an amendment from Sandesh Gulhane raising the age of eligibility to 18, having previously indicated that he would be open to bringing forward an amendment to this effect.

Liam McArthur MSP said:

“This bill has been a long time coming but, at long last, it offers a chance to provide the compassionate choice that a small number of terminally ill Scots desperately need.

"Now that Parliament has approved the general principles of my bill as well as the government’s financial resolution, the focus rightly shifts to how we might strengthen the bill.

“The amendments that I am putting forward take on board the views of experts who will have a role in the delivery of extending the choice of assisted dying to terminally ill patients. They also address points that the Parliament's Health Committee wished to see clarified at this stage in the process.

"Each amendment I have submitted underpins the Bill's driving principles of safety, compassion and choice. They balance the need for dying people to be able to access the option of assisted dying with strong protections and safeguards. They increase transparency around end-of-life care and decision making. They ensure that the decision of whether or not to participate in the process is firmly in the hands of individual medics by shifting from an opt out to an opt in system.

"Over the coming weeks, I look forward to working with colleagues on the Health Committee and others who have lodged amendments as we seek to ensure that we deliver the right law here in Scotland, drawing on the experience of what we see working safely and successfully in practice in states and countries around the world.”