THE daughter of an elderly couple whose GP supplied them with sleeping tablets to help them end their lives has hailed all three as "pioneers".
Dr Iain Kerr, of Newton Mearns in East Renfrewshire, revealed in The Herald last week how he had assisted the pair to commit suicide in 1990 after they approached him saying they felt their quality of life was unbearable.
The man, who was 81, had circulatory problems, difficulty walking and failing eyesight, while his 79-year-old wife – who was agoraphobic – did not want to go on without her husband.
After ensuring they had told their daughter their wishes, Dr Kerr, then a GP at Williamwood Medical Centre in Clarkston, agreed to help them and prescribed the sleeping tablet sodium amytal.
The couple's daughter said: "I admire Dr Kerr very much, as did my mother and father. I am aware he crossed boundaries many doctors who feel similarly are too afraid to cross, but people have a right to die at a time of their choosing and I will always be grateful to him that my parents were allowed to.
"It's easy for people to get hysterical about the idea of assisted suicide, but my mother supported euthanasia for a long time and made it clear the last thing she wanted was to die in an old folks' home."
Dr Kerr, who retired in 2011, appeared before the General Medical Council in 2008 and was interviewed by the procurator fiscal about his patients, but the 66-year-old had not spoken publicly until last week.
The Crown Office said it asked police to make inquiries into whether there is any new evidence available.
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