16-year-olds who have anorexia could be granted right to die, experts warn
by Georgia Edkins, Daily Mail:
Teenagers with anorexia could apply for state-backed ‘suicide’ under ‘extremely dubious’ laws proposed in Scotland, experts warned last night.
Newly published Holyrood legislation would allow NHS patients to request prescriptions for a life-ending cocktail of drugs that induce a coma, shut down the lungs and eventually stop the heart.
Supporters of Scotland’s Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill insist that the option to choose death over treatment would only be available for the ‘terminally’ ill – and would give patients more dignity in death.
But ethics experts blasted the broad definition of ‘terminal’ in the laws, which they fear could see those who stand a chance of recovery dying on the NHS.
They also say the Bill does not protect against overstretched doctors suggesting that patients consider dying rather than use up precious NHS resources.
David Jones, professor of bioethics at St Mary’s University in London and director of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre, said: ‘It is extremely, extremely dubious.
We’re talking about “assisted dying” as a euphemism, and it’s always assisted suicide.
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