Blanche STREB

Ruth Maguire (SNP), who is stepping down as an MSP due to a cancer diagnosis: “I find it really hard to put into words the impact that the language of dignity and compassion being used to talk about ending life has had on me—as if somehow wishing to carry on but with help is undignified and burdensome, unfair to people who love me… “My blood runs cold thinking about sitting in a room in a hospital and having a doctor raise that with me as we weigh up treatment options… “If it weighs so heavily on me, someone in a position of financial privilege, with a large loving family who are able to care for each other—indeed, someone whose job it’s been for 10 years to have difficult conversations… I want colleagues to see how this all plays out for people who don’t have the privilege that we have. “And in doing so, let’s have our eyes open to the strain our health and social care systems are under.”

Remarkable speech from Pam Duncan-Glancy (Independent): “There will be countless disabled people in our constituencies who haven’t had the choice to have a shower in weeks. People who can’t choose when they go to bed. Some who will already be in bed. “People who can’t choose what to eat. People who can’t choose to go out of their house, because it isn’t accessible. People tonight who can’t choose the care or the healthcare they need, including at the end, because it simply isn’t available for them. “And crucially, there will be disabled people whose struggle is so hard that they’ve given up hope, given up fighting, and will be considering tonight taking their own lives. “I know this, because I have been all of these people I’ve described. They live in fear every single day, worrying about what new limit someone else will put on their lives, and what little power they will have to change it. They live every single day without choice at all… “In a world where so many have little or no choice, we can’t risk making death the only choice they ever have.”