A new amendment to the Scottish assisted suicide Bill could make it a crime for a family member to attempt to dissuade a loved one from ending their life by state-assisted suicide inside “buffer zones”, and to have suicide prevention literature in hospitals and care homes.
The Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill would legalise assisted suicide for someone who is aged 16 or over, deemed mentally capable, ordinarily resident in Scotland, and terminally ill. There is no prognosis requirement specified.
Amendment 127, tabled by Scottish Greens MSP Patrick Harvie, would introduce “buffer zones” around areas where assisted suicide is carried out, inside which it would become an offence to “influenc[e] the decision of another person to be provided with, provide or facilitate the provision of [assisted suicide]”. It would also make “preventing or impeding another person from being provided with, providing or facilitating the provision of [assisted suicide]” an offence.
This could mean it would be an offence for one family member to attempt to persuade another family member not to end their life by state-assisted suicide as they head to a hospital or care home to end their life, if the people are in the “buffer zone”. The amendment, if it becomes part of the Bill and if the Bill becomes law, may prevent a loving wife from trying to dissuade her husband not to end his life in this way.
Additionally, it could mean that suicide prevention literature, such as that provided by the Samaritans, may no longer be allowed to be provided in hospitals, general practices, or care homes, as these are all places where assisted suicide may take place and so would fall within the area covered by the buffer zones.
Proposals would normalise “being punished for showing compassion”
The amendment has been widely criticised since it was tabled, with James Bundy, a Scottish councillor for Falkirk North, saying the repercussions of this legislation would be “vast”.
These buffer zones, he said, “would not be confined to a few clinics, they would blanket much of Scotland. They would, in practice, become silence zones – places where the natural moral conversation of care and concern is suspended by law”.
“It would appear to make it illegal to ask, ‘Are you sure?’ to someone considering assisted suicide within a buffer zone”, he added.
Dr Cajetan Skowronski, a geriatric and palliative care doctor, criticised the amendment, saying, “Suicide prevention in Scotland is about to get a lot harder” as the amendment would “ban you from talking someone out of ending their life”.
Former Director of Legislative Affairs at 10 Downing Street, Nikki da Costa, called the amendment “terrible”, while the Reverend Marcus Walker, Rector of St Bartholomew The Great Church in London, said, “From a plain reading of this, it would be an offence to put up [suicide] prevention literature (such as ads for the Samaritans) in hospitals, care homes, GP surgeries, or anywhere else where Assisted [Suicide] might take place”.
Gordon Macdonald, chief executive of Care Not Killing, said the buffer zones could “create censorship zones in large parts of the country”.
“We could see, in theory, buffer zones of 200m round the homes of the vast majority of patients. Family members, doctors, priests, nurses or anyone else who in any way seeks to influence the patient not to commit suicide risks being criminalised”.
“A GP surgery near a care home might have to take down the Samaritans poster from the notice board in the waiting room. It could ban a family member from crying”, he continued.
Even Liam McArthur, who introduced the assisted suicide Bill to the Scottish Parliament, said he was “sceptical of the need for such a provision in this Bill”.
Assisted suicide legislation for England and Wales is also making its way through Parliament
The amendment to the Scottish assisted suicide Bill comes in the midst of assisted suicide being debated in the House of Lords. The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which would legalise assisted suicide in England and Wales for those with a prognosis of six months or less, is currently undergoing additional scrutiny by way of a House of Lords select committee after two-thirds of Peers who took a position spoke in opposition to the Bill during its Second Reading in the Upper House. The commencement of the Bill’s formal Committee Stage is delayed until the select committee has reported.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “This amendment, if accepted, will only make a bad Bill worse”.
“Ordinarily, if we know someone is considering suicide, we accept it is our duty to stop or dissuade them as far as possible. Patrick Harvie’s amendment appears to be attempting to make it illegal for family members to influence a loved one inside a buffer zone not to end their lives if they are pursuing state-assisted suicide. This is an extreme form of attempted state-overreach and just as callous”.
“This terrible Bill and amendment should not become law”.
