Reflections on assisted suicide in Scotland
On 5th January 2026, First Minister John Swinney set out the SNP’s “vision for a very different future for Scotland.”
As it’s January, Burns Night is fast approaching, so I offer this video as an alternative vision of a very different future for Scotland. Only this time, I suspect, it portrays a future that very few of us want to see come true.
I do believe that this negative future will become a reality far more quickly than anyone expects, if Holyrood chooses to legalise assisted suicide when the Stage 3 vote tales place on Liam McArthur’s Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill.
This video is meant to hit hard. It’s meant to provoke you to think about the realities ahead.
As you watch it, some of you may think, “That’s too far-fetched,” or “that’ll never happen here,” or “that’s not what this law is meant to be about.” Some of you may even take offence at some of the lyrics and images and say: “People here would never say or do things like that.” If you find yourself having any of these thoughts, please come back and read the rest of the article.
Take two minutes and have a watch now.
Assisted suicide is one of those issues that I think most people can understand what people on the other side are concerned about.
I’ve been studying the issue and how it works in other countries for over 5 years now and, yes, I’m firmly opposed to it. Yet I understand some of the pressures involved when elderly friends and family struggle with cancer, dementia, Alzheimer’s, long term care costs, disabilities, feeling a burden, etc.
25 years ago, I could just as easily have been on the other side of this debate, arguing for it to be extended to include people suffering with chronic conditions – so I can understand why people can want to end it all when faced with huge suffering. I’m also well aware that some chronic pain conditions are arguably worse that suffering with a terminal illness, because there is no end in sight at all. So, if we’d had Canada’s system then, my own family wouldn’t exist today.
I think most people can easily imagine a set of circumstances for which they think assisted suicide might be a solution. But they are also shocked when they hear how things work in practice in other countries. They’re shocked because they realise they would never have even dreamt of supporting it in the beginning, if they’d known what would happen in the end.
If you found something in this video that shocked or offended you, then I’m wondering how you feel when you begin to realise that everything portrayed here is something that has happened, or is currently happening, in countries like Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium or Oregon in the USA?
Unfortunately, MSPs cannot simply legislate suffering out of existence.
They have a duty to think about how unintended consequences of any legislation can affect others in society. They must consider unintentional impacts when they can be easily predicted, especially when they have already happened in other countries that have gone down this road before Scotland.
It’s not good enough for them to only look at countries who recently changed their laws, when not enough time has passed yet for all the problems to become manifestly apparent.
It’s also not good enough to simply say that these problems won’t happen here. How are you going to prevent them? Assisted dying is used by patients in Canada because they are poor and lack housing. Why will that not happen here? Doctors and nurses in Canada suggest it inappropriately to their patients? How do we prevent that happening here? The Scottish definition of ‘terminal illness’ is so vague, that when suspicious cases outside the “spirit” of the law are investigated, it will be impossible to prosecute any medical practitioners because, just like in Canada, they only need to be “of the opinion” that the person qualified. How will we stop another Shipman?
To legislate, without knowing how to prevent the negative outcomes, is to guarantee those negative outcomes for the weaker members of our society.
Remember, there are powerful forces at play that want to normalise assisted suicide and take it further. The pro-assisted dying lobby is an extremely well-funded and global operation that shares tried-and-tested techniques for getting legislation through and then extending and expanding it later. Just look at how Dying with Dignity Canada is currently suing a hospice to remove their instutional opt-out and force them to allow euthanasia within their premises.
After all, if you support legalising assisted suicide because you want to prevent suffering or give people autonomy, why would you then deny others equal access to it? If they are arguably suffering more, should they not be able to exercise their autonomy too?
I’ve been a supporter of independence for my entire life.
I was raised in a nationalist household, learning the dark arts of postering campaigns at an early age. My dad stood for Westminster three times as an SNP candidate. Past leaders like Donnie Stewart and Gordon Wilson were family friends. Bannockburn marches, an annual pilgrimage. Independence was the air I breathed. It formed the lens I saw the world through.
For my generation of nationalists, Thatcher was the ultimate bogeywoman. All of us remember that infamous “No society” quote and how we mocked her for it at the time. Scotland was different, right? We were much more caring and compassionate for others. Of course there is such a thing as a society.
I think that’s why I’m still so astonished whenever I hear MSPs (especially those within the SNP) voice support for legalising assisted suicide in terms of individual autonomy. When I look at the countries that go down this road, I see how pressure increases on elderly, vulnerable or disabled people, how public safety is compromised, how healthcare changes and how social attitudes harden towards others as assisted suicide and euthanasia is normalised. I can’t help wondering if we’re about to prove auld Maggie right after all.
Your forced choice for my autonomy?
That’s certainly not the caring and compassionate society I would want to see develop in our nation. How about you?
