Community Pharmacy Scotland (CPS) has welcomed the inclusion of a clause in the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill that would give pharmacists who do not want to supply drugs to help terminally ill patients die the choice of opting out.

The Bill, which is at the first stage of its reading in the Scottish parliament, will, if passed into law, allow a terminally ill person aged at least 16 years who has lived in Scotland for a minimum of 12 months to undergo assisted dying if they have been assessed by two independent registered medical practitioners as being terminally ill, are of sound mind and have not been pressured to end their life. 

Scotland would become the first part of the UK to offer terminally ill people with assistance to end their lives if the Bill, which was tabled by the Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur in March, becomes law.

CPS said it was “unclear from the Bill” that responsibility for supplying assisted dying drugs will fall on pharmacy teams because “the prescribing, dispensing and disposal” of those drugs “is not touched on in any detail in the Bill from a pharmacy perspective”.

However, CPS, who said it “partially” supports the Bill and wants the minimum age at which people are eligible for assisted dying raised to 18, said the insertion of a “conscientious objection” clause is supported by the pharmacy profession in Scotland.

“Although pharmacists are not mentioned specifically, even in terms of supply, the principle of a conscientious objection opt-out is one that we believe is desired by the profession,” CPS said. “Its inclusion in the Bill is therefore welcome for those who would choose to exercise it.”

The clause says: “An individual is not under any duty (whether arising from any statutory or other legal requirement) to participate in anything authorised by this Act to which that individual has a conscientious objection.”