MSPs gather evidence on suicide bill

MSPs plan to take evidence from up to 50 witnesses before coming to a view on Margo MacDonald's controversial bill to allow assisted dying.

The committee set up by the Scottish Parliament to scrutinise the Independent Lothians MSP's End of Life Assistance Bill has published a list of witnesses who will be invited to appear before them at a series of six separate sessions starting on September 7.

They include experts in clinical ethics, medical law and bioethics from the UK, the Netherlands and Switzerland, and campaigners on both sides of the debate.

The six-strong committee, chaired by senior Liberal Democrat MSP Ross Finnie, has a deadline of November 24 to produce its report before all MSPs get the chance to debate.

Ms MacDonald's bill would allow people who feel their lives have become intolerable through terminal illness or a degenerative condition to ask for assistance to end their life.

More than 600 individuals and organisations sent in written views on the bill.