A Swiss GP who helped two Scots end their lives has said the only way to end so-called "suicide tourism" is to legalise assisted dying in other countries.
Dr Erika Preisig told an audience in Glasgow that the very sick and elderly should not have to bear the expense and stress of travel when they have decided that they do not wish to continue living.
The former Dignitas doctor now operates Life Circle, a Basel-based centre which has helped around 120 people end their lives since it was established five years ago.
They include cousins Stuart Henderson, 86, and Phyllis McConachie, 89, from Troon in Ayrshire, who travelled to the clinic to take a fatal drug dosage last year.
Both suffered health problems and feared the day they would be moved from their sheltered housing complex into a care home.
Dr Preisig said: "They had arrived at the point where they could not cope any more. They would have had to move to a nursing home.
"Many people do not want to go to a nursing home, they say 'what do I do there, wait for death?'"
The family doctor of almost 30 years was invited to talk by Friends At The End (FATE), an organisation campaigning for a change in Scots law to allow assisted dying.
Dozens of mostly elderly people attended the presentation, How to Die In Peace And Self Determination, at the Mitchell Library.
The Life Circle guidelines state that patients must have an incurable illness or unbearable pain, are informed about possible therapies, are mentally competent and have not been influenced by anyone else.
Two doctors must agree to the procedure and the medication must be taken by the patient themselves.
Dr Preisig said those planning to end their lives will ideally tell relatives so they are given the chance to say goodbye.
However many people, like the cousins from Troon, avoid telling anyone about their plans in case they are prevented from going ahead.
She said: "They were afraid their nephew would tell the police or their doctor that they wanted to end their lives.
"They told me - 'we can't tell him and you can't tell him'.
"I would have loved to have given him the opportunity to say goodbye to these two wonderful people."
She said: "You must talk to your family members, you must go through the grieving process - otherwise it is like jumping from a roof."
Dr Preisig became an advocate of assisted dying after she helped her elderly father, who had suffered a stroke, to end his life with drugs in spite of her own fears she would be "punished by God".
He had indicated that he would throw himself in front a train but in the end "he sat beside me, put his head on my shoulder and slept away", she said.
It is the "joy" her patients express at being able to take control of their death that gives her the strength to carry on her work in the face of much criticism from religious groups, she added.
FATE convener Sheila Duffy said: "We know that legalising assisted dying is a very controversial topic and one which is often misunderstood.
"Only through open discussion of the issues around the end of life, including how to improve palliative care, can society decide the best way forward instead of avoiding it because it might be uncomfortable."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here