Assisted dying opponents say specialist committee should scrutinise Bill

One of the groups opposing legislation to introduce assisted dying for terminally ill people in Scotland says a specialised Holyrood committee should be set up to scrutinise it.

Campaign group Care Not Killing (CNK) say around half of the health Committee’s members already support Liam McArthur’s Member’s Bill.

Published last month, the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill will be the third time MSPs have considered the issue – with two previous attempts to change the law defeated.

CNK’s chief executive Dr Gordon Macdonald has written to Holyrood’s Presiding Officer, saying the Health Committee should no longer scrutinise the Bill.

Dr Macdonald said: “It is quite clear that there is enormous potential for conflicts of interest when you consider that 50% of the committee members have already expressed support for this Bill in public.

“Ordinary voters might reasonably consider these individuals could possibly be biased in favour of the Bill.

“That cloud of suspicion needs to be removed in the interests of transparency and the best way to do that is to repeat the 2010 exercise, wrest control of the Bill from the Health Committee and form a special one-off committee composed of MSPs who have yet to express a view one way or another.

“This Bill is much too important to have any shadows of doubt hanging over the work of the scrutinising committee.”

CNK describes itself as an alliance of individuals and organisations bringing together disability and human rights groups, healthcare providers, and faith-based bodies.

MSPs are expected to be offered a free vote on Mr McArthur’s Bill, meaning the political parties will not whip their members to vote in a certain way.

Mr McArthur has said he is “confident” Holyrood will back the legislation when it comes to a vote but some MSPs – including the leaders of the SNP, Scottish Labour and the Scottish Conservatives – have expressed reservations about the Bill.

The Lib Dem MSP said: “I have always been of the belief that providing terminally ill Scots with the choice of an assisted death is a core healthcare matter and it is right that my Bill is subject to rigorous and robust scrutiny by MSPs with deep experience of legislation that relates to health matters.

“I look forward to working with the committee as it carries out its important work over the coming months.

“Our current laws on assisted dying are failing too many terminally ill Scots at the end of life.  

“I believe that a Bill containing robust safeguards, similar to those which have been safely and successfully introduced in countries such as Australia, New Zealand and the United States where they continue to enjoy strong public support, is the right way to tackle this important issue and give terminally ill Scots the choice they need.”