Everyone has the right to a good death.

What’s the difference between assisted dying and euthanasia?

Friends at the End is campaigning to legalise assisted dying rather than euthanasia.

Assisted dying is the process of helping someone end their own life. For example, a doctor provides a drug for a terminally ill patient to take themselves in order to end their life.

Euthanasia is the act of ending another person’s life to relieve suffering. For example, a doctor injects a terminally ill patient with a drug in order to cause death.

Currently in Scotland there is no legislation governing either assisted dying or euthanasia. The Lord Advocate (the prosecutor in Scotland) has indicated that under the current law, assisted dying would be seen as deliberate killing and a charge of murder or culpable homicide could be brought.

Our position on assisted dying

Friends at the End supports the right of every individual to die at a time and place of their choosing. We believe that medically assisted dying should be available to all mentally competent adults with either a terminal illness or an incurable condition, with no reasonable alternative to relieve this, provided this is their own persistent request.

Assisted dying results in fewer people suffering, not in more people dying.

We respect the views of those who do not support this position but whose opposition is equally informed by compassion and concern for people who are suffering. Our aim is to work with others to find common ground and to approach the subject with dignity and respect.

Why are we working to legalise assisted dying?

Friends at the End believes that in a civilised society, nobody should suffer the unnecessary effects of a bad death. We are driven by a desire to reduce pain, indignity and a loss of autonomy at the end of life. Consider these issues:

• Public support. Polls consistently show that 80% of the British public support assisted dying.
• Refusal of treatment. We currently have the right to accept, refuse or discontinue medical treatment. However, some people who are terminally ill and incurably suffering have no treatment to refuse. Their only choice is refusing fluid and food, essentially dying of dehydration and starvation.
• Suicide. Approximately 300 terminally ill people in the UK die alone by suicide every year. Many more attempt to end their life, which is distressing for the person, their loved ones and the emergency services who attend.
• Overseas options. The UK is outsourcing assisted dying to countries that have legalised it. But not everyone who wants to can turn to organisations such as Dignitas in Switzerland: they must be physically able to travel and able to afford the costs involved, roughly £15,000.
• Terminal sedation. The final stages of death can be treated by increasing pain killers and giving sedatives which induce sleep. The patient lapses into a coma and then dies, in what is known as terminal sedation. Often the patient takes no part in these decisions. Assisted dying avoids the period of suffering and loss of consciousness and dignity, and a law would provide accountability and transparency around these decisions.
• The limits of palliative care. We do not consider assisted dying an alternative to good quality end of life care, but an additional option. Some dying people cannot have their suffering adequately relieved, even with the best palliative care. Pain is not the only issue: many find severe weakness and total dependence on others deeply distressing. Research has shown that in Scotland, even with the best palliative care, 11 Scots a week will still die a bad death.

For more on the issues surrounding assisted dying, see our frequently asked questions. Please consider joining us or donating to help us continue our work.