MSPs reject bid to limit assisted dying to those with six months or less to live

MSPs have rejected a bid to restrict access to assisted dying to terminally ill Scots expected to live six months or less.

Labour MSP Daniel Johnson sought to make a change to the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill, which he said would mean people could only seek help to end their life “when death is imminent and expected”.

Johnson insisted putting in a timeframe is important, not only for clarity in the legislation but to help prevent the scope of the bill being expanded in future.

He was speaking as the Scottish Parliament’s Health Committee began its scrutiny of hundreds of proposed amendments to the legislation.

Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur has brought forward a member’s Bill at Holyrood which seeks to allow terminally ill Scots to seek help to end their life. PA Media

Holyrood approved the general principles of Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur’s Bill in a landmark vote earlier this year.

Arguing that assisted dying should only be an option available to those expected to live six months or less, Johnson said his amendment would give “absolute clarity” about the “immediacy of the likelihood of death, that it isn’t counted in years and decades, but it is counted in weeks and months”.

His comments came after Conservative MSP Jeremy Balfour had withdrawn an amendment to restrict assisted dying to those only expected to live for three months or less.

Balfour said: “As the Bill stands at the moment, the definition of terminally ill is extraordinarily broad.

“As it stands it could include individuals who would live not for weeks or months, but for years.

“People managing long-term conditions, people receiving treatment that stabilises their illness, people who still have meaningful time ahead of them, would all fall within the scope of the Bill as drafted at the moment.”

While his amendment was withdrawn, MSPs on the committee voted by seven to two against Johnson’s proposal, with one abstention.

McArthur also addressed the committee, highlighting how “difficult it can be for health professionals to estimate with any confidence how long a terminally ill patient has to live”.

He argued the committee, in an earlier report, had already accepted the rational for not including a timescale in the legislation.

McArthur added it is “ultimately better” to leave it to the clinical judgment of doctors as to whether someone meets the criteria for seeking help to die.

The Bill regards someone as being terminally ill if “they have an advanced and progressive disease, illness or condition from which they are unable to recover and which can reasonably be expected to cause their premature death”, the Liberal Democrat said.

But he put forward an amendment, which was unanimously agreed by the committee, to make clear that people would not be considered to meet the definition of terminally ill if they have a disability, mental disorder or both.