Needless suffering of terminally ill can be thing of the past

IT is time to legalise assisted dying – dying Scots don’t have time to wait. I’ve spent this week listening to people who are desperate to see Liam McArthur MSP’s Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults Bill become law.

To Valerie, whose husband’s back broke after he missed a step leaving the house only to find out he had terminal oesophageal and bone cancer. Despite the best palliative care, at home and in a hospice, Graham died in excruciating pain.

To Dianne, whose husband Frank couldn’t even be touched in the final weeks of his life because of the pain his cancer caused.

To Jackie, a 73-year-old grandmother from Edinburgh who has incurable breast cancer and knows that when her time comes she wants to be able to choose how she dies.

The Bill offers hope to Jackie and the hundreds of Scots in her position who want to know that, in the final weeks and days of their lives, if their symptoms become unbearable, they can die in the manner and at the time of their choosing.

This Bill is a real opportunity for Scotland to provide the compassion and choice dying people need and for MSPs to vote for a law that is better, fairer and safer than the status quo.

Evidence consistently shows that it is current law that endangers dying people and their loved ones. Like every assisted dying supporter I know, I passionately believe in accessible, high-quality end-of-life care – but the proof is overwhelming that it just cannot help everyone.

At least 11 Scots a week will suffer as they die despite receiving excellent palliative care. Around one Briton a week travels to Dignitas in Switzerland, many needing to leave months earlier than they would like to ensure that they are still well enough to travel, to have the death they want – with a £15,000 price tag attached.

Even worse, across the UK around 650 dying people a year take their own lives behind closed doors, to end their suffering, usually alone and in secret to prevent their loved ones being implicated. Nearly ten times that number make at least one attempt to do so. Where are the safeguards protecting these people?

Tightly regulated, well-implemented assisted dying, with sensible, practical protections, as proposed in Mr McArthur’s Bill, will go much further to protect vulnerable people at risk of harm – as well as family and friends who want to respect their loved ones’ wishes.

SCOTLAND is far from alone in considering legislation of this kind. Across the world, progressive nations are taking action to provide dying people with choice.

From New Zealand to California, parliamentarians have shown leadership and compassion in passing assisted dying laws that are consistently shown to be safe, and ensure dying people and their families are spared the trauma of a bad death. Even across the British Isles, parliaments in the Isle of Man and Jersey are looking at active legislation to change the law. Further afield, Ireland and France are doing the same.

I’ve spoken to countless terminally ill people who are desperate for the peace of mind that this Bill would bring, and to so many who have watched someone they love endure a terrible death and don’t wish anyone else to suffer in a similar way. This Bill gives them all hope that needless suffering can be consigned to the past.

I call on MSPs to not stand in the way of their choice.