Scottish GP has 'little confidence' on Scottish Parliament handling assisted dying law after gender Bill

Dr Kirsten Woolley spoke of her concerns during an event at the Royal Society of Edinburgh

Plans to legalise assisted dying in Scotland risk disrupting the relationship between doctors and grieving families, a GP and Scottish Government adviser has warned.

Dr Kirsten Woolley expressed anxiety about the dynamic that would be created if a family does not agree with a loved one's decision to choose an assisted death. She also said there should be support and supervision for doctors carrying out the process.

Meanwhile, Margaret McCartney, a GP, writer and broadcaster, said she had “very little confidence” in the Scottish Parliament’s ability to scrutinise the proposals given its handling of controversial gender reforms. The two women were addressing an event on assisted dying at the Royal Society of Edinburgh on Tuesday evening.

Plans to legalise assisted dying in Scotland have been brought forward by Liam McArthur MSP

Dr Woolley, a GP in Craigmillar who has an additional role offering advice to the health workforce directorate in the Scottish Government, said: "The views of the loved ones and the community doesn't really feature in the [legislative] notes that I've read so far, and I guess as a GP I found that that struck a chord with me and gave me pause for concern."

She said one of the things that worried her most was a scenario in which an individual may want an assisted death, but their loved ones and their family do not support this. She said: “The risk of the relationship with the general practitioner as an individual but also within the whole organisation, how that might be completely disrupted and completely broken. I'm very concerned about that particular dynamic."

Dr McCartney, who is a director of Edinburgh-based Beira’s Place, a sexual violence support service for women founded by JK Rowling, said anecdotes about assisted dying can be “really powerful”, but decisions should be based on “really high-quality evidence”.

She said: "When you're talking about making decisions on evidence – how high quality is that evidence? What are the gaps? What are the uncertainties? And there's lots and lots of them.

"But in terms of the real world, and where this is going to be made, well, I followed the gender recognition act very closely in Scotland to see how well decision-making was done, and I have to say I was absolutely appalled.

"I should say, one of my interests is I'm a director of Beira's Place. And when I look and see whose voices were heard, whose voices were not heard, who was brought to the table, who was not, I'm really pretty appalled.

"And I have to say that has given me very little confidence that the Scottish Parliament is capable of providing a high-quality assessment of the evidence, and looking at uncertainties and the gaps and the unknowns when we're going forward to discuss this Bill."

Her comments were met with applause in the audience.

The Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill has been brought forward by Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur.

The proposals would give people over the age of 16 with an advanced terminal illness the option of requesting an assisted death. They would have to have the mental capacity to make such a request, which would have to be made voluntarily without them being coerced.

Two doctors would have to be satisfied of the patient’s condition, and also that they have not been pressurised into their decision.