{"id":101102,"date":"2023-11-24T23:26:45","date_gmt":"2023-11-24T23:26:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebritycovernews.com\/?p=101102"},"modified":"2023-11-24T23:26:45","modified_gmt":"2023-11-24T23:26:45","slug":"dame-prue-leith-backs-bill-to-legalise-assisted-dying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebritycovernews.com\/world-news\/dame-prue-leith-backs-bill-to-legalise-assisted-dying\/","title":{"rendered":"Dame Prue Leith backs bill to legalise assisted dying"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Dame Prue Leith backs bill to legalise assisted dying for terminally ill Scots after death of her brother<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Bake Off star was at Holyrood where she spoke about her sibling&#8217;s &#8216;horrific&#8217; death<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Dame Prue Leith last night told how she hopes Scotland will \u2018lead the way\u2019 in the UK by passing laws on assisted dying.<\/p>\n<p>The Great British Bake Off judge was at Holyrood to give her backing to a Bill that\u00a0would legalise assisted dying for terminally ill Scots.<\/p>\n<p>The 83-year-old cook and food writer talked about her experience of watching her brother David\u2019s \u2018horrific\u2019 death.<\/p>\n<p>Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur is behind the Members\u2019 Bill which is being drafted and could be presented before the Scottish parliament next year.<\/p>\n<p>Patron of Dignity in Dying, Dame Prue has campaigned for a change in the law after her elder brother suffered a \u2018really horrible death\u2019 more than a decade ago.<\/p>\n<p>She urged MSPs to back the change, saying legislation could come forward in Scotland \u2018before we manage anything in England\u2019.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/21\/20\/78080211-12776995-image-a-1_1700600067381.jpg\" height=\"449\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Dame Prue Leith spoke in support of Assisted Dying at the Scottish Parliament\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/21\/23\/78080213-12776995-Prue_as_a_child_with_her_brothers_James_and_David_far_left-m-17_1700608885965.jpg\" height=\"461\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Prue as a child, with her brothers James and David, far left<\/p>\n<p>Dame Prue urged politicians at Holyrood and Westminster to \u2018take notice\u2019 of Mr McArthur\u2019s Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill, describing it as \u2018really important\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>She added that the Bill has a \u2018really good chance\u2019, as unlike at Westminster it will have to come before MSPs for a vote.<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of an event with Mr McArthur in Holyrood, Dame Prue said that \u2018in Scotland there are over 75 per cent of the public in favour of a change in the law\u2019. While MSPs have twice voted down attempts to legislate for assisted dying at Holyrood, Dame Prue said the \u2018mood has changed\u2019 post-Covid. \u2018I think it is partly to do with people are thinking more about death,\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Covid made us think about death, a lot of people died during Covid and people began to think about their own deaths. Up to then as a nation we were very good at not thinking about death and, therefore, it was possible for \u00adgovernments to not devote enough money to palliative care and to not bring a Bill forward.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>She said although her brother had bone cancer, he \u2018finally died of pneumonia because the only way he could kill himself was to stop taking antibiotics, which they gave him because he kept getting pneumonia\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>She added: \u2018That meant he died a really horrible death because dying of pneumonia is like \u00addrowning. That was horrific.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Dame Prue recalled how her brother was given morphine every four hours, but the pain relief only lasted for three hours. As a result, she said, he was \u2018crying out, screaming, in absolute agony\u2019 for hours each day.<\/p>\n<p>Watching him suffer made her question why those who are dying are not able to die on their own terms, she said. Mr Leith died in 2012, aged 74.<\/p>\n<p>The legislation being brought forward by Mr McArthur would give mentally competent adults who have been diagnosed with a terminal condition the right to end their life. Safeguards would include independent assessments by two doctors.<\/p>\n<p>Dame Prue said: \u2018My own feeling is that I am 83, so I think about death quite a lot and I want to die in my own bed, with my family around, peacefully, not in pain.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Doctors spend their lives trying to make sure their patients have a pain-free, good life, then at the end suddenly they are not allowed to help.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>It is the fourth attempt to legalise assisted dying in Scotland, including a proposal by veteran MSP Margo MacDonald.<\/p>\n<p>In 2015, MSPs voted against her assisted dying legislation after she had died the year before with \u00adParkinson\u2019s Disease.<\/p>\n<p>Dr Gordon Macdonald, of anti-euthanasia campaigners Care Not Killing, said such proposals would put the vulnerable at risk of \u2018abuse and coercion\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>He described the latest Bill as \u2018dangerous and discriminatory\u2019, and added: \u2018Put simply, it\u2019s \u00adimpossible to have a safe system of \u00admedicalised killing.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-12776995\/Dame-Prue-Leith-backs-bill-legalise-assisted-dying-terminally-ill-Scots-death-brother.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dame Prue Leith backs bill to legalise assisted dying for terminally ill Scots after death of her brother Bake Off<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101101,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - 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