The date for the first Assisted Suicide vote in the Scotland has been set for 27 May. This has been announced in the middle of Dying Matters Awareness Week. This is an historic event and we hope you will engage in this incredibly important decision by sharing your views with your MSP.

This message has today been circulated by My Life, My Death, My Choice, the campaign group in Scotland who help share information about the Assisted Suicide vote in the Scottish Parliament.

Dear Friends,

Thank you for signing the petition supporting the Assisted Suicide (Scotland) Bill. MSPs will hold their first vote on the Bill in the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday 27 May. It is critical that the Bill passes this stage to allowed continued debate and discussion of detailed amendments.

I am writing to ask you to contact your local MSPs and urge them to vote in favour of the Bill, telling them the reasons why you feel it is important they do. You can find out who your local MSPs are and how to contact them by clicking here and filling in your postcode where indicated.

It is best to use your own words as it is more persuasive for MSPs and likely to be more likely to convince them to vote in favour of the Bill. However, some points to consider when contacting them include:

• The Bill is limited to those with terminal or life-shortening conditions and whose mental capacity is not diminished.
• The action which ends a life can only be taken by the individual concerned.
• 75% of Scots voters believe it is important the Bill becomes law.
• There are strong safeguards in place to protect vulnerable groups.
• An Independent study in the Journal of Medical Ethics of similar legislation in the Netherlands and Oregon clearly concluded vulnerable not put at risk.
• Doctors would not be forced to take part.
• A group of 21 legal experts have indicated the current law in Scotland is unclear.

You can also use this form to contact your MSPs but we ask that you change the text in the box and replace it with your own words. Remember, nothing influences an MSP’s voting intentions more than their constituents’ views.

Thank you again for all your support. With your help we can convince MSPs to pass the Bill and give those with terminal or life shortening conditions who are enduring terrible suffering, the choice to end their lives peacefully, at a time, place and in a manner of their choosing.

If you need any more help then please get in touch.

Email us.

Thanks,

My Life, My Death, My Choice

Final Fling is clear that it supports choice and control, right to the end. We have supported Dignity in Dying in England in spreading the message about Assisted Dying and opening up discussion. We support My Life My Death My Choice with the same task in Scotland.

Meantime, we urge Flingers to record their preferences for life and death in the Wishes section of their Life Planning Tools and to fill out an Advance Decision/Advance Directive to share their preferences for treatment should they become incapacitated – which could happen to any one of us at any time. And even more important, get a lawyer to draw up Powers of Attorney so that someone can act on your behalf if you can’t. Store this in your Safe Deposit Box on Final Fling.