Opponents of allowing assisted dying in Scotland say proposals for a right to palliative care present a better alternative.
The Better Way campaign is against a proposed change in Scottish law to allow assisted dying.
A Member’s Bill by Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur is set to go before Parliament, which would give mentally competent adults with a terminal diagnosis the right to end their life if they requested it.
The campaign says MSPs should instead consider backing Conservative MSP Miles Briggs’s proposed Member’s Bill, which would grant a right to palliative care.
A spokesman for the Better Way campaign, which describes itself as a group of experts opposed to assisted dying, said: “Palliative care is historically underfunded, and it is deeply wrong that vulnerable, dying people are not accessing the quality of care they so desperately need. MSPs in every party should consider supporting Mr Brigg’s proposal.
“Improving palliative care is wholly incompatible with ‘assisted dying’, which is opposed by the vast majority of palliative doctors in Scotland.
“When asked about this practice, end-of-life doctors warn that it would have a negative impact on palliative care services.
“They also warn of a negative impact on conversations with patients and families and say that proposed legal safeguards would not prevent harm to vulnerable patients under their care. A staggering number have also indicated that they’d leave the profession if the law changes.
“We would urge MSPs to row in behind a right to palliative care, and other measures that enhance end-of-life care, and vote against doctor assisted suicide.”
Mr McArthur responded, saying he would back the Member’s Bill on palliative care.
He said: “I have long advocated for more and better palliative care available on an equitable basis.
“However, it is clear that for some people who will suffer as they die, even with access to the best palliative care, the choice of assisted dying must be available too. This is not an either/or situation.
“In places where assisted dying is a legal right there is strong evidence that just knowing the law is there has a palliative effect – allowing people to live as they die, free from the fear that they will suffer at the end of life.”
He added: “I would encourage the Better Way campaign who are seeking to use this much-needed measure as a way of denying dying people the choice to have both palliative care and the right to an assisted death to read the recent report from the Westminster health select committee inquiry on palliative care and assisted dying.
“The report could not have been more clear that palliative care is unable to relieve all suffering, with expert witnesses from the hospice sector declaring it would be ‘arrogant’ to claim otherwise.”