I read the Podium by Graham Vincent’s on assisted dying (Gazette, August 30, 'MPs must decide to allow assisted dying').

On May 27, 2015, the Scottish Parliament debated the Assisted Suicide Bill, originally introduced by the late Margo MacDonald, for more than three hours. It was defeated by 82 votes to 36 with no abstentions.

The Scottish Parliament has 128 members including the Presiding Officer. In Westminster, on September 11, 2015 after a debate lasting more than four hours, the Assisted Dying (No. 2) Bill introduced by Rob Marris was defeated by 330 votes to 118. In both cases, the attendance of our elected representatives was high, the matter was debated at some length and the proposals were defeated by large majorities.

Until July 2015, I was living in the north east of Scotland. During the period in which the Scottish Bill was under consideration, I was able to meet three of my local Members of the Scottish Parliament to put my views to them on the question of Assisted Suicide.

It was very clear to me that the MSPs I spoke to were willing to listen to the views of constituents and discuss points made to them. They were taking considerable trouble to research the issue thoroughly and take an informed decision on which way to vote. The official record of the debate will confirm this.

In 2010, the Economist Intelligence Unit published a report entitled, “The quality of death: Ranking end-of-life care across the world.” It concluded that: “The UK leads the world in quality of death; many developed nations must work to catch up.

"The UK has led the way in terms of its hospice care network and statutory involvement in end-of-life care, and ranks top of 40 countries measured in the Index. This is despite having a far-from-perfect healthcare system.”

In a subsequent report, “The 2015 Quality of Death Index: Ranking palliative care across the world”, it concluded: “The UK has the best quality of death, and rich nations tend to rank highest. As in 2010 the UK ranks first in the 2015 Quality of Death Index, thanks to comprehensive national policies, the extensive integration of palliative care into its National Health Service, and a strong hospice movement.

"It also earns the top score in quality of care.”

There is a strong argument for the further development and support of hospices and the provision of high-quality palliative care.

Mr Vincent stated that assisted suicide is not permitted because “Westminster failed to have the courage to allow [it].” He further states that he is “pretty sure that in preparation for the Westminster debate very few MPs bothered to investigate what it’s like to be in such a desperate condition as to want to determine when to die.”

On what investigation does he base his assertion? The meetings I had with MSPs and the transcripts of the debates in both Parliaments do not lead me to this conclusion. While he is entitled to disagree with the decision of Parliament, he needs to accept that other people have conscientiously reached a different view.

S.W. Shaw

Kendal