Assisted suicide law 'may prolong life'

Published on Wednesday 25 March 2009 21:12

LEGALISING assisted suicide would keep people alive longer, it was claimed yesterday.

Edward Turner, whose mother Anne, a former GP, died in the Dignitas clinic in Zurich in 2006, made the claim as he appealed for MSPs to debate a proposed bill on assisted suicide.

He was speaking at the announcement of the results of the consultation on the proposed bill being put forward by Margo MacDonald, the Independent Lothians MSP.

He suggested that his mother, who had the incurable degenerative disease progressive supranuclear palsy, went to Switzerland in 2006 before she really needed to because of the difficulties in arranging assisted suicide in another country, based around a fear that she would lose the freedom to travel abroad.

He argued that if it was allowed in Scotland, then she may have been able to enjoy a few more months. "I utterly welcome the moral leadership which I think Margo is taking on this issue," he said. "And it will strike a chord with the vast majority of the public."

He said: "I thought it was unjust my mother had to leave her own country in order to have a dignified death. It's hard for us who are not facing the end of life to understand the desperation that people have.

"My own mother was terrified of losing the ability to travel so she went at a relatively early stage in her condition. If assisted dying had been legal in the UK, then she would have had extra months of life."

More than 400 individuals and groups replied to Ms MacDonald's consultation on the issue, with these responses now being analysed.

She is now confident that she will at least be able to get the bill tabled in parliament. She said she has 12 of the 18 MSPs needed to sign it.

Ms MacDonald, who has Parkinson's disease and has indicated that she may wish to have an assisted suicide some time in the future, said the result was similar to other surveys.

"I'm inclined to think we are absolutely on the right track in the Scottish Parliament in testing this now and in trying to frame a bill," she said.

The proposed law would allow people with a progressive degenerative condition, those who have been left dependent on others following a trauma, and those with a terminal illness and for whom life has become intolerable, to seek a doctor's help in dying.

Ms MacDonald has been criticised by pro-life groups who responded to her consultation. They claim her bill does not have sufficient safeguards, but she disputes this. If the bill were to be passed, the patient would have to make a request to a suitably registered doctor.

Added to that, the doctor would then be required to seek the opinion of a specialist on the patient's capacity to make such a decision.

The bill would also allow doctors with religious or moral objections to be exempted from having to help any patient end their life.

After such a death, the doctor would have to supply the relevant health board with medical records for the patient.