Slippery slopes in assisted suicide law, implications for Scotland
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David Albert Jones, Professor in Bioethics at St Mary’s University in London describes the experience of assisted suicide in other jurisdictions. In Australia a time limit of expectation of death within 6 months (or 12 months for neurodegenerative disease) in Victoria in 2017 was expanded in Queensland in 2021 to 12 months for all patients and further expanded in the Australian Capital Territory in 2024 to abandon any time limit. This rapid expansion should be a warning for MSPs. Even if a 6 month limit is included in the Bill, as belatedly seems to have been conceded, there is no guarantee that this limit will be maintained once the Bill passes. The evidence from Australia suggests the opposite. MSPs should not look only at what is on the face of the Bill but should also look at the experience of other countries and what is likely to happen in practice if the Bill is passed.
Recorded in January 2026 prior to Liam McArthur announcing intention to add a 6-month prognosis to the Scottish Bill.