The Scottish Deputy First Minister has warned that Scotland could become a hub for “death tourists” from across the United Kingdom if assisted suicide becomes legal there.
The Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill would legalise assisted suicide for adults resident in Scotland with no prognosis requirement specified, while the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill would legalise assisted suicide in England and Wales for those with a prognosis of six months or less.
In November, MSPs rejected an amendment to the Scottish assisted suicide Bill that would have instated a six-month terminal prognosis requirement, which the proposed Bill in England and Wales currently has.
The Deputy First Minister of Scotland, Kate Forbes, warned that individuals from across the UK could travel to Scotland to end their lives by assisted suicide due to the looser restrictions on the eligibility criteria proposed law there.
“It is a risk”, Forbes said. “That wider point around looser definitions is a matter of concern for residents in Scotland, as well as those who might want to relocate to Scotland”.
Forbes made her comments as part of a cross-party statement from MSPs who are concerned about the potential ramifications of legalising assisted suicide in Scotland.
Among other MSPs who made comments during the statement was Conservative MSP Edward Mountain, who recently disclosed that he is suffering from bowel cancer. Mountain said there was a “real risk” that individuals would travel to Scotland from around the UK to avail of the looser assisted suicide restrictions.
“There is always the chance that people will see Scotland, if this bill passed, which I hasten to say I hope it doesn’t, is an easier place to end your life than down south”, he added.
Frontbench Labour MSP Michael Marra also criticised the assisted suicide Bill for these reasons, saying the issues that would likely arise as a result of incentivised cross-border travel had been “hugely underexplored” during the debates in Holyrood and Westminster.
“It’s a very complex issue, about how the two systems might interact”, he continued.
Death tourism is a very real risk, medical ethics expert says
Concerns around this kind of “death tourism” were initially raised by Dr Claudia Carr, a medical ethics expert at the University of Hertfordshire’s law school.
She highlighted that people in England and Wales who are suffering from a terminal illness would likely realise that Scotland would have “a more positive climate for an assisted death and move accordingly”.
“[A]nybody with a terminal diagnosis who feels the clock counting down may well consider their options”, Carr added.
Carr argues that the proposed assisted suicide legislation in Scotland would likely allow many more people from across the UK to be eligible to end their lives there than in England and Wales.
“This means there is no fixed time limit for the expected death, and the provisions of the Bill would apply, for example, to motor neurone disease, end stage heart failure and advanced metastatic cancer – which would likely not be the case in England and Wales”, she said.
Concerns about Scotland becoming a destination for assisted suicide tourism come as the assisted suicide Bill in Scotland heads into Stage 3, and the assisted suicide Bill for England and Wales continues to be debated at Committee stage in the House of Lords.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “It is extremely worrying that, if assisted suicide is legalised, Scotland could become the centre of ‘death tourism’ in the UK, with people moving to the region with the specific goal of ending their lives there”.
“This is just one of countless issues posed by the horrendous, ill-conceived assisted suicide Bills in Holyrood and Westminster. It is clear that no amount of debate or scrutiny could ever make these pieces of legislation safe. The right thing to do now is to reject these Bills outright and prevent assisted suicide from becoming legal”.
