MARGO MACDONALD has won the right to have her controversial "assisted dying" Bill debated in the Scottish Parliament after securing the support of fellow MSPs.
She required 18 signatures to allow the proposed measure to be considered by the parliament.
Today, the Independent Lothians MSP revealed a total of 21 members from across all five parties had given their backing.
Now parliamentary officials wi
ll help her draft the formal legislation before it is handed to a Holyrood committee to scrutinise and invite evidence on. Then it will be debated by the full parliament.
Under Ms MacDonald's proposals, people for whom life had become "intolerable" through a terminal illness, loss of function or a progressive, degenerative condition would be able to ask a doctor to help end their life.
However, there would be stringent safeguards. The patient would need to be registered with a doctor for "a considerable period of time" before they could request help to die, and they would also have to make two requests for such help, at least 15 days apart.
The Bill is opposed by churches and the British Medical Association, but Ms MacDonald said she was pleased the issue would now be debated by the parliament.
She said: "I'm not claiming everyone who signed it agrees with me because the whole purpose of having the Bill is to take one step at a time – getting the Bill, having it properly investigated, analysed and decided on.
"That's quite a long process – and it should be because it's a very serious new law I'm proposing. I'm not trying to make it fluffy or anything like that."
Former Wester Hailes GP Dr Ian McKee, an SNP Lothians MSP, is one of those backing the Bill, but he said he envisaged the "ultimate choice" would only be exercised by a few patients whose suffering could not be eased by medical treatment.
He said: "If people can benefit from palliative care that's great, but there is a handful of people for whom, for one reason or another, palliative care is not working."
Dr McKee said he understood the concerns of medical colleagues, but believed most of the objections could be overcome by ensuring adequate safeguards.
Lothians Labour MSP George Foulkes said it was essential to have clear safeguards, but described it as a "humane" proposal.
He said: "It's really cruel to force people to go through the agony of a long and lingering death."
He said it would be "very sad" if the Bill was scuppered by people with religious objections. He said: "That would mean people, because of their own religion, were forcing the tenets of that religion on everyone."
Ms MacDonald, who has Parkinson's disease, has said she wants the reassurance of knowing she can end her own life if the condition becomes intolerable.
A similar Bill was introduced by Liberal Democrat MSP Jeremy Purvis during the last session of the Scottish Parliament, but failed to secure enough backing.
