Assisted dying 'is not going away' says MSP behind rejected bill
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Scottish Lib Dem Liam McArthur says he is convinced support for assisted dying will continue to grow as more people suffer what he describes as "bad deaths".
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Assisted dying 'is not going away' says MSP behind rejected bill 14 minutes ago Share Save Mary McCool BBC Scotland Share Save The MSP behind the rejected bill to give Scots the right to medical help to end their lives says the issue is "not going away". Scottish Liberal Democrat Liam McArthur says he is convinced support for assisted dying will continue to grow as more people suffer what he describes as "bad deaths". On Tuesday night his bill was defeated by 69 votes to 57, following a moving debate where MSPs laid their emotions bare. The bill would have made the treatment available to terminally ill, mentally competent adults who have been given less than six months to live - but opponents said there were not enough protections against coercion. Scotland's assisted dying bill rejected after emotional debate Emotional four-hour debate ends with Scotland’s assisted dying bill failing Scotland's assisted dying bill has fallen - what happens now? McArthur was visibly emotional after the defeat and shared embraces with colleagues as the Holyrood chamber emptied. But on Wednesday, he told the BBC he was resolute in his views. Speaking to the Around Orkney programme, he said: "I'm fairly confident as a result of what we saw last night that the next attempt to get this over the line will be successful and probably fairly comfortably so. "This issue is not going away, the number of people affected by these bad deaths - given the demographic trends, given the advances in medicine - those numbers are only going to increase, and meantime the overwhelming majority of people across Scotland are supportive of a change." What's the public mood on assisted dying? The Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults Bill would have made it legal for a medical practitioner or authorised health professional to give an eligible patient a lethal drug to end their own life. A bill to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales is being considered at Westminster, though it appears unlikely to ...
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