Sharp criticism has been levelled against plans to legalise assisted suicide in Scotland.

In their formal response to Liam McArthur's Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill, the Care Not Killing (CNK) alliance called the proposals "uncontrollable, unethical, and unnecessary". 

The Bill would allow terminally ill people aged 16 and over, who have been living in Scotland for at least 12 months and are registered with a GP, to seek assisted suicide. 

CNK CEO Dr Gordon Macdonald hit out at the proposed eligibility criteria, saying, "No-one should be eligible for assisted dying."

He pointed to places like Oregon, Canada, the Netherlands and Belgium where the criteria for assisted suicide has widened considerably since first being introduced. 

He expressed scepticism about proposed safeguards and argued that they could lead to abuses, noting that in Oregon some people who died by assisted suicide admitted to feeling like a burden on their loved ones.

"It should remain unlawful to supply people with a substance for the purpose of ending their own life," he said. 

In his submission, Dr Macdonald also questioned proposals to record the terminal illness as the cause of death, rather than the assisted suicide, saying this amounted to "mandatory false reporting". 

"What consideration has been given to the conscience rights of doctors and registrars who do not wish to falsify records?" he said. 

"This provision could be vulnerable to a challenge under Article Nine of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) - freedom of thought, conscience and religion."