Scotland: Pro-lifers hit out over suicide bill committee

Description: [of the article from Scotland on Sunday]

An author who has argued for assisted suicide has been appointed adviser to the Holyrood committee scrutinising MSP Margo MacDonald's bill calling for sick people to be given the right to die. Pro-life campaigners are angered by the appointment of Alison Britton, the co-author of The Case For Assisted Suicide, to her position as the committee's only adviser and sought assurances that she will be impartial. If passed by the parliament, MacDonald's highly emotive bill could see terminally ill or permanently physically incapable people deciding to end their lives legally.

Britton will advise a parliamentary committee that was specially set up to deal with the ethical arguments. Gordon Macdonald of the pressure group Care Not Killing has written to Ross Finnie, the Lib Dem MSP who chairs the End of Life Assistance (Scotland) Bill Committee, to express his concerns. "Alison Britton co-authored with Prof Sheila McLean, a book entitled The Case For Physician Assisted Suicide and a report titled Sometimes a Small Victory," Macdonald said.

[There is information in the Notes section below.]
[There are other related stories in the Links section below.]

Links:

To read the full article click on one of these links, both of which go to the same destination. A short link is provided for the convenience of readers. Also, readers may search and browse past and future advisories on the web (see bottom.)

  • http://tinyurl.com/2cngssn

  • http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/health/Prolifers-hit—out-over.6343632.jp

    Also see:

  • Exit sponsorship author appointed to Parliamentary committee on euthanasia [The EXIT euthanasia blog]
    http://exiteuthanasia.wordpress.com/2010/06/07/exit-sponsorship-author-appointed-to-parliamentary-committee-on-euthanasia/
    Yesterday it was revealed that Alison Britton has been appointed as the adviser to the Scottish Parliament's committee on assisted dying. Not, as the opponents of reform suggested, because she is supposedly favourable towards the idea, but because it introduces evidence-based analysis to parliamentary decision-making.

    Britton, together with another leading authority on medical law, Sheila McLean, headed up the study in 1996 and has since co-authored other works on similar dilemmas. Although the study was sponsored by Exit (also known during that period of its history as The Voluntary Euthanasia Society of Scotland), the contractual arrangement with Glasgow University meant that it was academically independent of whatever findings the study would reveal. (The other contributor was BBC Scotland, who commissioned the public opinion poll.)

  • Mayfield Parish: End of Life Issues [Mayfield Salisbury Parish (Edinburgh) Church of Scotland]
    http://www.mayfieldsalisbury.org/

    On the home page of the parish web site, Rev Scott McKenna has posted a column on assisted dying. An excerpt:

    God has made humanity moral decision-makers. In previous generations, the Church believed its own message and faced death in faith. Most of the people, who have been given permission to die and the means to do it, have, in the end, not done so. This is because their fear of suffering and an undignified death did not materialise and they died in peace. The Council has argued that life in this world cannot be shortened through assisted suicide, not matter the degree of pain, suffering and indignity endured. This is religious dogma; it is dehumanising. God has given us life and He has given us moral responsibility. It is a noble thing to choose, in faith, to return that life to God when the alternative is a few days, weeks or months of intolerable suffering, humiliation and isolation. If our faith is for this life only, then we are the most to be pitied. In death, we go to a better life."

  • Sermon on Assisted Dying by Rev Scott McKenna [Mayfield Salisbury Parish (Edinburgh) Church of Scotland]
    http://www.mayfieldsalisbury.org/events/sermon-info.asp?mnth=5&yr=2009

    A PDF transcript and MP3 audio file is also available on this page. An extract:

    God has given us the power of reason and the power to take responsibility for our decisions. I acknowledge the weakness in so-called Advance Decisions or living wills because circumstances change but, in cases where the person has power of thought and reason, I am uneasy that the State or the Church should deny people the power to make their own decisions appropriate to their unique set of circumstances.

Source:

Peterkin, Tom. "Pro-lifers hit out over suicide bill committee". Scotland on Sunday. Published Date: 06 June 2010. <scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/health/Prolifers-hit—out-over.6343632.jp>. The Scotsman, Barclay House, 108 Holyrood Road, Edinburgh EH8 8AS, UK

Tags:

Tags (or keywords) briefly indicate some major topics of the report.

  • assisted suicide

  • voluntary euthanasia

  • EXIT

  • End of Life Assistance (Scotland) Bill (SP Bill 38)

  • Scotland

  • Britain

Notes:
ID:

The EuthaNEWSia ID for this advisory is: enid201006071065.
Mailed: Monday, June 7, 2010 14:31:33 -0600
at Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Etcetera:

EuthaNEWSia is a free Canadian news advisory service covering end-of-life issues such as right to die, assisted suicide, and euthanasia. EuthaNEWSia is produced by the Right to Die Society of Canada which works toward a good death for all, including open, regulated and equitable access to euthanasia and assisted suicide. The editor is Michael Dawson <editor@euthanewsia.ca>. 

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