McArthur responds to letter from medical bodies on assisted dying

Responding to a letter from the Royal College of Physicians and others about his Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) bill, Liam McArthur MSP said:

"Choice and protection are at the heart of this Bill and I want to be very clear that means choice and protection for medical professionals as well as for dying people.

"I thank these organisations for their continued engagement and wish to assure them that they can have confidence that medical participation and employment protection will be robustly and tightly safeguarded. My bill cannot come into force until such measures are implemented so those medical professionals who wish to participate will be fully protected in doing so and there is no scenario in which those who don't would be required to.

"Section 104 orders are a normal part of our legislative process and are used to facilitate the will of the Scottish Parliament. As with the section 30 order relating to substances and devices which was passed earlier this month, both Governments are working constructively to put in place what is required in terms of medical regulation.

"Any provisions that may fall under the remit of a section 104 order can be debated by MSPs at Stage 3 and then given yet more scrutiny in the UK Parliament. This is a robust, belts and braces approach so my MSP colleagues can be certain that the law they wish to see will be the law they get."