Suicide clinics give patients 'much-needed service' says Kirk minister

Published on Monday 23 November 2009 21:58

A LEADING Church of Scotland minister has praised the work of Dignitas, the Swiss-based assisted suicide group, and accused Britain of "exporting" its ethical dilemma overseas.

Dr John Cameron said Dignitas provided a "much needed service" for individuals who want to "die as they have lived" and said NHS claims that palliative care was available for all in Britain's hospitals were false.

Dr Cameron's comments are at odds with the views of the Kirk which opposes Independent MSP Margo MacDonald's controversial End of Life Choices Bill that seeks to legalise assisted suicide in Scotland.

Dr Cameron, 66, writing in next month's edition of Life and Work, the Church of Scotland magazine, said: "Dignitas provides a much needed service to strong-willed and assertive individuals who want to die as they have lived.

"At present, we force citizens facing terrible deaths to fly out prematurely to Switzerland since they must be sufficiently fit to travel.

"As a society, we are refusing to face this matter head-on and are offloading our ethical dilemma to another country. This is morally unacceptable."

Approximately 1,000 British citizens have travelled to die at one of Dignitas' rented apartments in Zurich.

Among them was motor neurone disease sufferer Reginald Crew, from Liverpool, who was filmed in 2003 at a Dignitas clinic before he was helped to end his life.

Dr Cameron was minister at Stephens and West Parish Church, Broughty Ferry, near Dundee, for 34 years before retiring last year.

He said he and his wife, a physiotherapist, had made living wills as a result of the "harrowing" scenes they had witnessed in NHS geriatric wards. "Claims that front-line palliative care is available to all patients in the UK are manifestly false. We clearly cannot afford to provide such a service.

"Having access to physician-assisted suicide allows the patient to maintain control over his or her situation and to end life in an ethical and merciful manner.

"Having such access in our own country would remove the necessity of a premature journey to a foreign country and dying among strangers – surely the ultimate unintended consequence of opposition by the Christian community."

However, the Rev Bill Hewitt, the Moderator of the General Assembly, said: "There is a need for the worth and dignity of every human life to be emphasised and celebrated. It would be a disgrace if vulnerable people opted for assisted dying – or felt pressure to do so – because of a lack of resources to give them an acceptable quality of life in their last months, or because any person was perceived – or perceived themselves – as a burden.

"The church has a responsibility to ensure that all participants in the process experience as fulfilled and comfortable a final journey as possible.

"Any legislation which endorses the deliberate ending of a human life undermines us as a society.

"The caring society in which we all want to live will not be achieved by sanctioning the legal termination of human life. Society is better served by showing love and compassion to those around us – especially to the most vulnerable."