More ethical matters in the news
Last week I was showing a friend from the US the very building (above) where the Church of Scotland General Assembly was in session. A phalanx of eight very friendly policemen waved us into the stone courtyard cheerfully, and we stood admiring the impressive architecture, under the forbidding glare of John Knox‘s statue.
I couldn’t help feeling the displeasure of this firebrand reformer about what was going on. Because inside, the commissioners were debating serious matters about which he would have had very strong opinions. And indeed, one conclusion has surprised me too. It relates to assisted dying. After vehemently and definitively and consistently opposing it hitherto, this time these august personages openly recognised the range of theological as well as ethical opinions on the subject amongst their members, and in a highly unexpected move, they voted to review the opposition to it. Apparently the dialogue was ‘impassioned’, ‘deep and meaningful’, and took them to ‘a very human place’. So, not an endorsement, but a step further along the continuum to change.
Two years ago the British Medical Association moved to a neutral position on this matter. Last year the Royal College of Nursing announced it was planning to review its stance too. In the last few weeks the Philosphers’ Consortium on Assisted Dying in Scotland (ethics professors from Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrews Universities) backed the proposed new bill which would allow competent terminally ill adults to be helped to end their lives.
The majority of the ordinary population are in favour of a change in the law too. So what a long way we’ve travelled since I wrote Right to Die in 2008!
Eccentricity or genius? Ira Levin: another masterclass