Scots warned over introduction of right-to-die laws

Nearly 45,000 Canadians have ended their lives under the country’s right-to-die scheme, fuelling fears over the introduction of similar laws in Scotland.

In some areas, seven per cent of recorded deaths were a result of assisted dying –meaning Canada has the highest number of ‘euthanasia deaths’ in the world.

Under controversial new plans, patients in Quebec with dementia will also be able to opt for a premature assisted death by giving advance notification – raising concern over the risk to elderly Scots if the reform is approved here.

Campaigners in Scotland who back Lib Dem MSP Liam McArthur’s Private Members’ Bill at Holyrood insist the assisted dying legalisation would help the terminally ill to end their lives in a ‘safe and compassionate’ way.

Campaigners staging a protest outside a Canadian court

Professor Trudo Lemmens has warned a right to die law in Canada had widened with diabetics and autistic people being approved

But last night there was growing concern that a green light for the move in Scotland could put vulnerable people at risk, including dementia sufferers and the disabled.

Professor Trudo Lemmens, Scholl chair in health law and policy at the University of Toronto, has travelled to the UK to warn of the dangers of legalising assisted dying – and told the Mail earlier this week that in Canada the reforms had led to death becoming a ‘form of therapy’.

Further details from his research show that in total, 44,958 people have died under the MAID (medical assistance in dying) scheme in Canada since its introduction in 2016, with 13,241 such deaths in 2022.

Professor Lemmens said: ‘One province, Quebec, which had adopted, prior to the federal criminal law regime of MAID, its own law in 2015, has become the jurisdiction with the highest percentage of euthanasia deaths in the world.’

He said a parliamentary report had now recommended a change in the law to allow MAID for people with dementia on the basis of an ‘advance request’.

Terminally ill Scots as young as 16 will be able to ask doctors for a cocktail of drugs to help to end their lives under the legislation lodged at Holyrood.

Last night Dr Gillian Wright, of Our Duty of Care, which represents Scottish healthcare professionals opposed to assisted dying, said: ‘Doctors across Scotland are increasingly concerned about what is happening in Canada.’

Mr McArthur said: ‘My Bill does not allow patients with dementia to make advance requests for assisted dying.’

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