s.1(1) It shall not be an offence for a registered medical practitioner to assist in the death of a person if the following conditions are satisfied:

     (i) a person has made a request to die;

     (ii) in the opinion of a registered medical practitioner and a qualified legal practitioner, the person is competent to make such a request;

     (iii) in the opinion of two registered medical practitioners, one of whom has not been involved in the care of the person, that person is

           (a) terminally ill; or

           (b) in extreme physical or mental suffering.

s.1(2) A request for assistance in dying for the purposes of s1(1) may be made verbally or in writing.

s.1(3) For the purposes of s. 1(2) a written request may be incorporated into an advance directive.

s.1(4) The immunity provided by s.1(1) extends to any person supplying the means for the assisted suicide and any person acting under the direction of the registered medical practitioner.

s.2(1) A person over the age of 16 shall be presumed to be competent for the purposes of s.1, unless in the opinion of a registered medical practitioner and a qualified legal practitioner that person is not competent.

s.2(2) For the avoidance of doubt, a request for assistance in dying is not per se evidence of incompetence.

s.3 No registered medical practitioner or any person acting under his or her direction shall be obliged to assist in the death of any person.

Schedule

1. When a person has died as a result of an act authorised by this statute, the death shall not be treated as a material breach of any contract.

2. When a person has died as a result of an act authorised by this statute, that person shall not be treated as having died as a result of personal injuries for the purposes of the law of tort or delict.

3. When a person does not die as a result of an act authorised by this statute, unless the person is competent and withdraws the request, a registered medical practitioner remains obliged to assist in that person's death.

4. When a person does not die as a result of an act authorised by this statute owing to the negligence of a registered medical practitioner, that person retains title to sue for compensation under the law of tort or delict.

5. When a person does not die as a result of an act authorised by this statute owing to the negligence of a registered medical practitioner, any relative of that person has title to sue under the law of tort or delict for any distress occasioned thereby.

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Some features of the new Bill that distinguish it from many other attempts at legislation:

• The Bill is a template. It recognises that any Parliament will wish to debate the fine details, remit and safeguards. Hence these minutiae are not included in the original Bill.
• The Bill specifically addresses aspects of law that could be ambiguous if not clarified by any other measure - negligence claims, for instance, or aspects of contract law such as the impact of a physician assisted suicide on insurance policies.
• The Bill is "permissive" - it keeps physician assisted suicide as a crime but indicates that there may be exceptions. (This differs strongly from the directive approaches used in the U.S. and Australia.)
• Competency is specifically addressed as a legal matter, not a medical matter, and quite different to the assesment of rationality.
• The bill includes provision for the advance directive to include a direction about assisted suicide.

The above is a draft Bill prepared by Prof. Sheila A.M. McLean and Prof. Joseph Thomson, of the Institute of Law & Ethics in Medicine, and the Law Faculty, University of Glasgow, Scotland.

Useful links:-

• FastAccess  (VESS euthanasia / physician assited suicide links & resources)
• Glasgow University  The Bill was researched at the Institute of Law & Ethics in Medicine, part of Glasgow University.
• Sometime a Small Victory Details and order form for the Institute's full Report on Physician Assisted Suicide which lead to the above Bill being drafted.