We encourage all HCPs who support our aims to join our group. We are particularly keen to include those HCPs who would be involved in the care of dying patients who may explore the option of an assisted death when it becomes legal.

If this applies to you, please contact us via the form on our homepage.

You do not have to publicly express your support, but you would be welcome to do so.

Assisted dying – sometimes called voluntary assisted dying (VAD), or medical assistance in dying (MAiD) – is a process where healthcare professionals support an eligible terminally ill person to voluntarily end their own life to relieve the pain, suffering and distress being experienced at the end of life.

This is provided through a highly regulated approval process, involving several eligibility assessments by independent healthcare professionals, under limited conditions and with strict oversight.

Assisted dying is one of a number of options that could be considered in end-of-life care, and it is legal in many jurisdictions across the world, where it sits alongside conventional palliative care services. In these countries, assisted deaths represent a small minority of overall deaths.

In Scotland, there is no distinct legislation governing the legality of a person ending their own life or receiving assistance to do so. As such, while there is no specific offence in relation to assisted dying in Scotland, it is also not currently legal to provide someone with an assisted death.

Assisting another person to end their own life could lead to prosecution for offences such as murder or culpable homicide, or for offences under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, but there is presently a lack of clarity regarding what conduct is or is not lawful.

We would like to see explicit clarity provided in legislation setting out the legal parameters for providing an assisted death in Scotland.

The Assisted Dying For Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill, introduced to the Scottish Parliament in March 2024, would legalise voluntary assisted dying for terminally ill adults with mental capacity, subject to assessment by a minimum of two independent doctors.

A person is deemed terminally ill if they have “an advanced and progressive disease, illness or condition from which they are unable to recover and that can reasonably be expected to cause their premature death”.

After the person makes an initial request for an assisted death, two independent medical practitioners – one of whom must have no prior relationship with the patient – would assess the person to determine their clinical condition and mental competence, satisfying themselves that they are acting voluntarily.

If there is any possibility that the condition is not terminal, or any doubts as to the person’s capacity to request an assisted death, either practitioner can refer the person to a relevant specialist for further assessment before a decision is made.

The assessing doctors must be satisfied that the person is seeking an assisted death voluntarily, and has not been coerced or pressured by any other person into making a request. The Bill would make it an offence to coerce a person into seeking an assisted death.

As well as confirming eligibility, each practitioner will be expected to explain the details of the assisted dying procedure, as well as any other treatment or palliative care options available to the patient. The patient may decide at any time not to continue with the process.

If both doctors are content that a person is eligible for an assisted death and is making the request on a voluntary basis, the person can then make a second declaration requesting assistance to end their life. Periods of reflection (typically 14 days at least,but this can be shortened to 48 hours if death is imminent) are also built in to ensure the decision is well considered.

Each step in the process would be recorded, with central monitoring undertaken and a review of the law’s operation published by the Scottish Government after five years.

The Bill specifically does not allow assisted dying for people with any illness, condition, or disability, either physical or mental, other than terminal illness.

Public polling over several years has consistently shown strong, widespread support for a change in the law to allow terminally ill people to end their own lives with medical assistance.

This includes findings of an extensive poll published in March 2024, conducted by Opinium on behalf of the campaign group Dignity in Dying, which found that 78% of Scots support a change in the law.

Our group represents healthcare professionals who support assisted dying. However, we also recognise that this is a societal issue rather than a medical one. The decision of whether to access assisted dying rests on individual choice, and our role as practitioners is to empower individuals to make informed decisions rooted in personal autonomy.

This position is reflected in the growing number of medical bodies in Scotland that have adopted a neutral position on this issue or chosen not to take a collective view, including BMA Scotland, the Royal College of Nursing, the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow.

However, we also acknowledge that while there is widespread support in the medical community for assisted dying, as evidenced by a member survey conducted by the BMA in 2020, which found a majority of members personally supported a change in the law, sadly many of our colleagues do not feel able to speak out in support until this choice is decriminalised.

We strongly support efforts to improve access to high-quality palliative care, and believe this should be holistic, patient-centred and targeted towards providing care for dying people in the place of their choosing where possible.

Unfortunately, it is a fact that, in a significant minority of cases, palliative care will be unable to provide adequate relief of suffering to patients in the final stages of life. Some dying people may also simply wish to be able to end their own lives in the time, place, and manner of their choosing, even if immediate suffering is alleviated by palliative care.

Assisted dying has been able to work effectively alongside palliative care in countries where it has been legalised. Moreover, legalisation of assisted dying has in several jurisdictions been directly accompanied by increases in funding for palliative care services. We will work towards making this a reality should this choice be legalised in Scotland.

The model proposed in Scotland would limit access to adults with an advanced terminal illness who have decision-making capacity. This means that, while a person with dementia who has a concurrent terminal illness would not be automatically excluded, they would be required to demonstrate their capacity to make an informed decision regarding any assisted dying request. If this is in doubt, they may also be subject to further assessment by a healthcare professional specialising in capacity.

Dementia may by itself be considered a terminal illness. However, at the stage where it becomes ‘advanced’ and is expected to end a person’s life, it is likely they will have lost the capacity to provide informed consent for an assisted death, meaning that they would not be eligible under the proposals being considered in Scotland.

While this may feel – and indeed be – unfair, it is our view that the present proposals strike the right balance between granting dying people the autonomy they deserve and safeguarding those who require it.

Capacity is already at the heart of decision-making in relation to end of life care, and all patients must be free from coercion when making decisions about their care. As a result, practitioners working in this area already make assessments about patient capacity on a regular basis.

Under the current law, people with capacity can refuse treatment, as well as refuse to accept food or fluids, even if these choices will result in their death. These decisions often result in traumatic, drawn-out deaths.We believe that dying people should have the right to choose a compassionate, pain-free death.

Under the proposals being considered in the Scottish Parliament, no mental health condition would by itself be grounds for accessing an assisted death. We believe that this is the appropriate position, and we would be opposed to any inclusion of mental health conditions as a basis for eligibility.

However, patients who have a physical condition with a terminal prognosis, but who also have a concurrent mental health disorder (e.g. anxiety), should not necessarily be excluded from accessing an assisted death, as long as their decision-making capacity is not affected by this disorder, and they understand the treatment options available to them.

Broadly, there exist two different models for the introduction of assisted dying laws worldwide: one that restricts access only to terminally ill people, as is being proposed in Scotland, and one which is more expansive from the outset, such as laws in place in Canada, Belgium and The Netherlands. No country that has introduced a ‘terminal illness’ model has gone on to further expand eligibility.

Fears of a slippery slope are often used to undermine proposals such as this, which are in reality fairly conservative by international standards and which have widespread popular support. We know from international evidence, going back over two decades, that jurisdictions which have introduced assisted dying based on terminal illness have not changed the law to include eligibility on a wider basis.