The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) in Scotland has issued a statement opposing the Scottish assisted dying bill just days before the final vote is due to take place.
The RPS said last week that while it is “neutral on the principle of assisted dying”, it is not neutral “on the process”.
It explained that it was opposed to the bill in Scotland due to the “removal of vital protections to protect pharmacists who may wish to conscientiously object” to taking part in an assisted death.
Read more: RPS Scotland and other bodies object to Assisted Dying changes
The final bill – which is due to be voted on on March 17 – will not contain protections for pharmacists and other healthcare professionals, despite the RPS “tabling robust amendments” at numerous stages of the process, it said.
The body stressed that it had “strongly advocated for the rights of pharmacists who may, or may not, wish to take part in assisted dying” and had submitted written and oral evidence to the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee.
The RPS “suggested amendments to be tabled at every possible stage of the process to strengthen the legislation and advised members of the Scottish parliament (MSPs) on those proposed amendments to ensure they were fully informed before voting on them”, it said.
“Outstanding question”
It highlighted that Section 18, which describes vital protections on conscientious objection for pharmacists and other healthcare professionals, “has been removed from the bill entirely”.
The proposal at the moment is to “add this back into the bill once it is passed”, but the RPS has previously said that this raises questions about “transparency, accountability, and the robustness of the legislative process”.
Read more: Assisted dying and pharmacy: Where does liability lie?
The body also raised concerns that Section 15 (1A), which “would have ensured that a registered pharmacist supplied the substance for use in the process”, was removed from the bill at Stage 3 of the process.
It said that this “removes an extremely important safeguard”, adding that the bill is now “silent” on the “critical process” of supplying the substance.
“There is now an outstanding question as to whether pharmacists would be able to conscientiously object to supplying the substance, given the fact that this process is not described anywhere in the legislation,” the RPS stressed.
Uncertainty and confusion
The RPS also highlighted that several amendments, which were tabled to help clarify what the role of a pharmacist would be “when accompanying a doctor or nurse during an assisted death”, were also “voted down”.
“This leaves uncertainty around the role of pharmacists in the assisted dying process [and] in our view, this is confusing to patients, carers, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals,” it added.
The RPS said these issues left it with “serious concerns” about the bill, and it urged MSPs to “carefully consider” its statement before the final vote.
Read more: MPs pass assisted dying bill as pharmacist MP backs new clause
It comes after the RPS in Scotland, along with other Scottish healthcare bodies, raised concerns in a joint statement last month that “provisions relating to no duty to participate and conscientious objection may be removed” from the assisted dying bill.
“Removing issues of such significance risks undermining both professional confidence and public trust,” they said at the time.
