A LEADING American expert has said that laws which allow for assisted suicide can result in improvements in other aspects of palliative and end-of-life care.
Dr Peg Sandeen, executive director of Death with Dignity National Centre of Oregon, will discuss the protection of vulnerable groups at an event in Glasgow's Mitchell Library.
The Death with Dignity National Centre, based in Oregon in the United States, exists to promote Death with Dignity laws based on the Oregon Death with Dignity Act, both to provide an option for dying individuals and to stimulate nationwide improvements in end-of-life care.
During her speech, Dr Sandeen will outline in detail her experience in Oregon, which has had a Dignity in Dying law in effect for more than 15 years after it was approved in a state-wide referendum.
She said: “We know from our experience in Oregon, as well as other states in the US, that Dignity in Dying laws are not only overwhelming popular with citizens, but can prompt improvements in other aspects of palliative and end-of-life care.
"Where implemented effectively, these laws open up a civic conversation about one of the last taboo conversations, the issues around our own deaths.
“I hope to be able to share information and answer questions from people in Scotland as they shape their own end-of-life care legislation.”
In May MSPs rejected assisted suicide by voting against a Bill which would have made it legal for terminally ill people to request help to die.
Earlier this month, Gordon Ross, a severely disabled grandfather who is seeking the right to die, lost his legal battle to force the Lord Advocate to publish guidance on assisted suicide.
Organised by campaign group Friends At The End (FATE), the event will take place on November 21.
Dr. Bob Scott, spokesman for FATE, said: "Although the most recent attempt at legislation on a dignified death in Scotland recently failed at Holyrood, the support amongst MSPs has doubled and, with strong and growing public support it is clear that this issue is not going to go away.”
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