Will Scotland be the first to legalise assisted dying?

Will Scotland be the first to legalise assisted dying? 5 hours ago Share Save James Cook Scotland editor Share Save For more than a year, Scottish politicians have been grappling with matters of life and death as they debated one of the most contested bills in the history of devolution. Tuesday's final Scottish Parliament vote on the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults Bill is seen as too close to call. But, if it passes, Scotland could become the first nation in the UK to legalise assisted dying. The legislation was introduced by backbench Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur who said it would provide choice, compassion and dignity. Critics of the bill have called it dangerous and say MSPs should focus instead on improving end-of-life care. What does the assisted dying bill do? An assisted dying bill in England and Wales cleared the House of Commons last June but it is likely to run out of parliamentary time after stalling in the Lords when peers tabled hundreds of amendments. In Edinburgh too the proposed law has been heavily amended, with MSPs debating and voting on 175 amendments last week alone. McArthur said the result was a "bulletproof" bill which amounted to "the toughest and most comprehensively-safeguarded" such legislation in the world. If enacted, the bill would allow a terminally-ill, mentally-competent adult, who has been resident in Scotland for at least 12 months, to request the provision of an approved substance to end their life. They would need the approval of two doctors and, while the lethal substance would be provided by a medical professional, it would have to be self-administered by the patient. In the closing days of debate, a life-expectancy timeframe was added to the bill, meaning only those who could "reasonably be expected to die within six months" would be eligible. This is the third such bill which the Scottish Parliament has debated in the past 16 years. In 2010, MSPs rejected the End of Life Assistance Bill, tabled by in...