Legal bodies renew calls for Assisted Suicide Bill clarity

Scotland's legal professional bodies have renewed their calls for clarity in the law if the proposed Assisted Suicide (Scotland) Bill is to be passed by the Scotttish Parliament.

MSPs on the Health & Sport Committee yesterday heard evidence on the bill from the Law Society of Scotland and the Faculty of Advocates, along with the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service and Police Scotland. 

Ahead of her session, Professor Alison Britton, convener of the Society’s Health & Medical Law Committee said: “We remain very concerned that the bill in its current form lacks definition on what constitutes assisted suicide, what is meant by assistance, and therefore what actions would or would not be legal. As the bill stands, a person who has had their request for assisted suicide approved has 14 days in which to commit the act, but it is unclear exactly when that time period starts – is it when the GP issues the prescription or when the prescription is actually dispensed?"

Professor Britton questioned what would happen at the end of the 14 day period if someone who was contemplating ending their life wanted another couple of hours to make their decision. She added: "There is also no detail on how these life ending drugs are to be safely stored, or indeed disposed of, if they are not used. We certainly would want to see this clarified.”

Coral Riddell, head of the Society’s Professional Practice team, who also gave evidence, restated the Society's concerns about the provision to allow a solicitor to act as a proxy to sign a request for assisted suicide, a question on which the Justice Committee was divided in its report last week on the legal aspects of the bill. The society believes that medical practitioners are better qualified than solicitor to assess whether a person has the necessary capacity to understand the effect of a proxy signature in relation to assisted suicide.

For the Faculty of Advocates, David Stephenson QC said the purpose of the bill was to protect from prosecution or other legal action someone who helped another person take their own life.

He commented: "The more general and more open the legislative provisions are, the more the risk is of uncertainty and somebody failing to comply with a court's interpretation of what the Act means and intends... the more flexible the system is, the more open it is to different interpretations and the greater the difficulty people will have in knowing they are protected."

The Faculty believes it important that any such legislation is clear, readily understood by ordinary people and not just by lawyers, that key terms are well defined and not open to different interpretations, and that the penalties for breach of the legislation are spelled out – but that the bill as currently drafted may not achieve these goals.

For the COPFS, Stephen McGowan said: "The key part of this is there is no definition of what assistance actually is and what it is to assist someone in suicide." There was a "fine line" between assisting suicide and taking someone's life.

Detective Chief Superintendent Gary Flannigan, for Police Scotland, said any confusion resulting from lack of clarity was likely to lead to a police investigation.

The Health & Sport Committee is due to hear further evidence on the bill until mid-February and will then prepare its stage 1 report.