MacDonald calls for assisted suicide laws

Published on Saturday 12 July 2008 19:43

INDEPENDENT MSP Margo MacDonald has called for Scotland to adopt assisted suicide laws from Holland to help the terminally ill end their own lives.

MacDonald, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, wants the right to decide to end her own life if her condition deteriorates.

Her call for the change in the law has come after months of researching and filming for a BBC Scotland documentary which deals with the subject of assisted suicide and euthanasia.

Assisted suicide is illegal in the UK, and anyone helping a person end their life may face prosecution.

MacDonald said: "After having looked at the laws in different areas and studying the issues, I believe that the Dutch system is the best and has the right balance.

"I want to be able to end my own life when my Parkinson's gets too severe and I want to have my dignity and to die in Scotland if I can. But it's not just for myself. Compared to many others I am not badly off and I am a long way from my condition being so severe I would want to end my life. But I want to be able to do it without fearing that anyone helping me would face prosecution."

The Dutch system involves a suffering patient being under the supervision of a GP for at least 18 months before being allowed to end their own life. The rule is designed to ensure that no one is allowed to end their own life on a whim or because of no good medical reason.

In 2006, a pioneering businesswoman who lived in Scotland ended her life at a Swiss clinic rather then suffer from a degenerative condition.

Austrian-born Elisabeth Rivers-Bulkeley, who suffered from cancer, told friends she did not want to be a "nuisance" to anyone, and joked with those around her as she prepared to die at the age of 82. She flew to Zurich in December 2006 and her life was ended with a fatal dose of barbiturates at the Dignitas clinic.

Dignitas insists on written opinions from two doctors, and dying at the Zurich clinic costs 3,000, not including flights, the cost of getting documents, or the final night's stay in a hotel on the eve of the death. The organisation refuses to allow people suffering with depression to end their lives at its clinic.

BBC Scotland Investigates: Margo MacDonald – My Right To Die, will be screened on BBC One on July 16 at 10.40pm.