'Let everyone have a vote on assisted dying'

Published on Tuesday 13 January 2009 19:08

A PENSIONER yesterday called for a referendum to be held on assisted dying.

George Anderson, a member of the Militant Retired group, is also urging the Scottish Parliament to hold a debate on the issue.

He made his case to Holyrood's public petitions committee just weeks after the independent MSP Margo MacDonald launched a consultation on legalising assisted suicide.

Ms MacDonald launched a consultation on plans to make assisted suicide legal.

The Lothians MSP, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, has already said that she would like to be allowed to bring about her own death if her condition deteriorates.

Yesterday Mr Anderson said: "I'm asking people whether they want help at the end of their lives, if they want to get out of it. If Manchester city can hold a referendum on traffic congestion charges, it will seem perverse if this place treats assisted dying with less serious intention."

Mr Anderson said that, because assisted suicide is illegal in Britain, "terminally ill people were being forced into exile – like lepers in medieval times".

He suggested that the number of people forced to travel to clinics in countries where assisted suicide is legal might rise as the population of the United Kingdom aged.

He told MSPs it was a "phenomenon that can only increase if the ageing demographics are to be believed and the laws remain as they are".

MSPs on the committee agreed to raise his petition with the Scottish Government but they questioned the appropriateness of a referendum on assisted dying.

Bill Butler, Labour MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, pointed out referendums were usually held on constitutional issues.

And the SNP's MSP for North East Scotland, Nigel Don, said the issue was a "difficult one for MSPs and others to get to grips with".

But he added: "I've got to the point of recognising we need to have a debate about this."

In a submission sent to MSPs ahead of yesterday's meeting, Mr Anderson said he had spent two years as a student nurse and "experienced the reality of caring for the terminally ill".

He "formed the view that there must be a better way of facing our last days".

Mr Anderson added: "We need a whole rethink about end of life care and, to achieve it, it is necessary that the problem is widely aired.

"A nationally conducted referendum is probably the best way to achieve this, with assisted dying being one of the options made available."