Canadian health expert warns Scottish politicians against assisted suicide

A Canadian expert medic has warned Scottish parliamentarians about doctor-assisted suicide, citing its "horrific" effects in her home country.

Speaking to the Glasgow Herald newspaper about a forthcoming bill at Holyrood palliative doctor Professor Leonie Herx said:

“In Canada, we’ve been living in a regime of assisted dying for six and a half years and the reality of where we’ve ended up is not what was intended when we started.

"It’s quite horrific, actually and so it’s important for those considering this type of legislation in Scotland to get a full picture and consider all the unintended consequences of it.

"The legislation has expanded well beyond what we were told would only be very rare and extreme cases of suffering, it’s society’s most vulnerable groups who are being caught in the net.

“It’s now become very difficult in palliative care to do our work when medically assisted dying becomes a default solution for some patients", she added.

Professor Herx visited Scotland this month to address MSPs at a meeting in the Scottish parliament attended by politicians in different parties.

A survey published this month found that the vast majority of palliative doctors in Scotland would refuse to take part in assisted suicides if the law changes.

Data from the Association for Palliative Medicine of Great Britain and Ireland also showed 4 in 10 doctors would immediately resign if their organisation offered 'assisted dying'.

There is deep concern among end-of-life medics who took part in the study. 9 in 10 said assisted suicide would have a negative impact on palliative care.

Almost 8 in 10 respondents said assisted suicide would have a negative impact on their conversations with patients and families.

And almost 9 in 10 respondents said they do not believe proposed legal 'safeguards' would prevent harm to vulnerable patients.