Unsafe and unworkable

Controversial Assisted Dying Bill comes under question from top docs as they urge caution

- BY JOHN FERGUSON

SENIOR palliative care doctors have voiced "profound and escalating worries" over proposals for assisted dying in Scotland.

In a strongly worded letter the group of medics said they have "serious critical clinical concerns" over a controversial Bill which will be voted on next month at Holyrood.

The Association of Palliative Medicine (APM), is a professional body representing 1400 specialists across the UK, including more than 120 in Scotland.

Its letter states: "We are deeply concerned that legislation in its present and now amended form is clinically unsafe, inequitable and unworkable.

"In matters of life and death, the threshold for safety must be unassailable.

"The current proposals fall demonstrably short of this standard, exposing vulnerable people to risks we cannot undo, while the palliative care they need remains inequitable and often unavailable.