Highland MSP David Stewart says right to die at home is a 'basic human right'
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Labour MSP David Stewart believes there should be an automatic right for people who want it to have full care at home for the last few days of their life.
Mr Stewart, who is Labour’s shadow public health minister, was speaking in the Scottish Parliament at a member’s debate raised by MSP Miles Briggs on Research Projections into Place of Death in 2040.
The debate centred around research by charity Marie Curie, the University of Edinburgh and Kings College London which said that, if current trends continue, then by 2040 two-thirds of Scots could die at home, in a care home or a hospice.
Currently less than half do.
However, the research says it is very unlikely to happen without substantial investment in community-based care.
Mr Stewart said: “This is an issue that has long interested me and has fundamental public health implications for Scotland.
“Having a right to die at home in my view is a basic human right and accords with the European Convention on Human Rights.”
He said Holyrood had previously been praised for "legacy policies" such as free personal care, the smoking ban and minimum unit pricing on alcohol.
He added: “In my view a right to die at home policy could join the illustrious group of legacy policies that parliamentarians and constituents of the future could look back on with pride.”
He said that in a recent Marie Curie poll 61 per cent of Scots said they would prefer to die at home and research by group Dying Matters found around 70 per cente would prefer to die at home, yet around 50 per cent currently die in hospital.
“Parents have the right currently to have their child born at home and the NHS provides midwives, but we don’t have the right to have carers to enable us to die at home. So, I see a real policy gap there,” he said.
Mr Stewart asked Public Health Minister Joe Fitzpatrick if the Scottish Government had thought about enshrining the right to die in a community setting in law.
Mr Fitzpatrick replied that it was not something that had been considered but he wondered whether it should be.
Mr Stewart’s own member’s debate on the right to die at home is set to be heard soon.
