A LEADING psychiatrist who helped shaped legislation in Scotland has announced his support for Margo MacDonald's assisted suicide bill.

Dr Jim Dyer, who was director of the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland for 10 years, has told Holyrood he strongly supports changing the law so that terminally ill patients can receive help to die.

Although he is calling for some amendments to the proposed law, he believes safeguards can be put in place to ensure vulnerable people do not take their lives for the wrong reasons.

Dr Dyer, who also spent six years as Parliamentary Standards Commissioner - a role which involves investigating complaints against MSPs, said: "Some people place a particular value on autonomy - having control over their own life and their own actions as far as possible and, as part of that, having control over their death in the circumstances described. I realise other people do not share that view, they may feel that God prohibits suicide and determines the timing of their death. But they are not obliged to avail themselves of the opportunity provided in the bill."

As a young medic, Dr Dyer said patients who were near death had asked him for help to end their lives.

He said: "In the past there may have been compassionate doctors who went along with the wishes of someone and their family. But that all had to be done secretly with fear of a possible prosecution and this (law) would place it all above board."

He also said the bill would provide reassurance to people who might be worried about their final days.

The Mental Welfare Commission looks after the rights of people with mental health problems and Dr Dyer worked on key acts of parliament in this field which are now embedded in Scottish law.

He acknowledged there is concern about people with mental health problems taking the decision to end their lives because of their "morbid mental state," rather than physical illness. However, he said courts were used to examining whether a mental disorder was affecting someone's ability to make major decisions. "Just because someone has a mental illness does not necessarily mean they lack the capacity to make an important decision," he added.

Mr Dyer expressed concern the proposed legislation, which says the person wishing to end their life should not be suffering from any mental disorder, could discriminate against people with a history of mental health problems

In difficult cases, he said, psychiatrists could be called in to help assess someone's capacity to decide. "Psychiatrists make these judgements all the time," he added.

He also noted the bill refers to patients having terminal or "life shortening conditions" - a phrase he feels is too vague given many health issues such as high blood pressure are linked to shorter life expectancy while not always being fatal.

A spokesman for Care Not Killing, the umbrella organisation which is spearheading opposition to the legislation, dismissed Dr Dyer's comments. He said Dr Dyer's submission to the Scottish Parliament suggested death by a legal dose of drugs was "dignified." The spokesman added: "There is not a shred of evidence to suggest that assisted suicide is either dignified or comfortable and many reasons to fear that for some of the most vulnerable and defenceless in society it would be anything but.

"Further, the Bill as it stands makes no requirement for anyone who wishes to contemplate assisted suicide to be assessed by a psychiatrist,

"In any case it seems preposterous that a doctor could make the case to sanction assisted suicide based on the existing 10 minute appointment system when it can take months to properly assess the mental health of an individual."