Legal move to help terminally ill people to die rejected in Scotland

doi:10.1136/bmj.c6986

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Bryan Christie

¹Edinburgh

An attempt to change the law in Scotland to help terminally ill people end their lives has been heavily defeated in the Scottish Parliament.

The End of Life Assistance Bill was proposed by the MSP Margo MacDonald, who has Parkinson’s disease, but was rejected by 85 votes to 16. It would have made it legal to help someone over the age of 16 years who is terminally ill or permanently incapacitated to take their own life.

It follows a detailed examination of …