Yousaf 'not persuaded' by assisted suicide plan

Scotland’s Health Secretary Humza Yousaf has said he is “not persuaded” by assisted suicide proposals before the Scottish Parliament.

In an interview with the BBC at the weekend, Mr Yousaf explained that he is concerned legislation is open to abuse, with insufficient ‘safeguards.

His predecessor, Jeane Freeman had come out in support of a change in the law to allow terminally ill people to ingest lethal drugs in medical settings.

Mr Yousaf commented:

“We are waiting to see some of the detail and debate some of the detail in parliament, but my own personal view is that I am not persuaded by the proposals, particularly because I am not sure that we have stringent safeguards in place.”

However, signalling that the government had not taken an official stance against the bill, he added:

“These are matters of conscience and therefore it is for each individual minister or member of the Scottish parliament to make their views known, but I am very open minded to hear about these issues in detail.”

In the past, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has also expressed opposition to assisted suicide due to safety concerns. Speaking before the last debate on the issue in 2015, she said:

"I voted against it last time and I haven't been convinced of assisted suicide this time either. A major stumbling block is the issue of sufficient safeguards. I believe we should support people to live and I am therefore in favour of good quality palliative care."

A spokesman for CARE said:

“It’s striking that Humza Yousaf has spoken out against these plans, with both UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid and Jersey Health Minister Richard Renouf also publicly opposed to the practice.

The evidence overwhelmingly shows that assisted suicide is dangerous and cannot be made safe by supposed legal safeguards. It is vital that MSPs keep ‘assisted dying’ off the statute book in Scotland, as they have done in the past.”