‘Everyone should be afforded the right to die well. Now is the time for Scotland to lead the way’
Despite the fact that it will come to us all, it is hard to talk about dying. Dying is intensely personal. But – like many other matters of importance – in this case the personal is political. We need to talk about it. Not just between ourselves, our loved ones and our doctors, but at a national level in our Parliament. We need to talk about what rights dying people need to have at the end of their lives.
When we talk about rights we know that strong pressure for change is met by strong resistance. Think of the abolition of slavery, votes for women, the legalisation of abortion, the decriminalisation of homosexuality and more recently the repeal of Section 28. It has sometimes taken decades for these issues to be resolved. Many of them share a common theme – the extension of liberty and choice, and rejection of the right of the state or church to make decisions on an individual’s behalf. Assisted dying follows suit – it is the most socially progressive issue of our time.
Scotland is not the only country grappling with the issue, but current overseas trends indicate that our Parliament will soon find itself on the back foot of a growing movement of greater choice and control at the end of life. Dignity in Dying Scotland is calling for terminally ill, mentally competent adults to have the choice of assisted dying, so that dying people do not have to suffer against their wishes.
In Scotland, our current law is broken and needs to be fixed. At the moment, one person every eight days is travelling from the UK to Switzerland in order to end their life. Those who can’t afford it, are too unwell to travel or don’t want to have to die early when they are still able to make the journey, end their own lives in this country, often alone and in traumatic circumstances. Assisted dying is already going on right now, unchecked and unregulated. A transparent, safeguarded law would give more protection to vulnerable people as well as provide relief to needless suffering.