Perspectives on assisted dying

Please join us for an online discussion about this challenging but important subject.

RSA Fellows and all interested in the topical and challenging subject of Assisted Dying are invited to register for our on-line event on 20th March. The meeting will open with Liam McArthur presenting on progress around, and issues relating to, his proposed Assisted Dying Bill (see below). Panel members will reply and then participate in facilitated discussion followed by an all panel opportunity to reply to Q&A from the audience.

Speaker: Liam McArthur MSP

Panel:

Dame Prue Leith DBE, Chancellor, Queen Margaret University

The Reverend Dr Sam Wells

Liam McArthur MSP has been the MSP for Orkney since 2007. He currently serves, by election, as one of two deputy presiding officers at Holyrood. Liam has long supported the right to choose the time and place of one’s death. He gave his support to efforts at changing the law in Scotland in 2010 and 2015. In November 2022, Liam earned the right to introduce a new members bill which would legalise assisted dying for mentally competent, terminally ill adults in Scotland, with support from 36 cross-party MSPs. He is currently working with parliamentary officials to produce a formal bill. As additional background, Liam worked as a special advisor to deputy first minister Jim Wallace in the Lib Dem-Labour coalition government during the first two sessions of the Scottish Parliament. Since being elected in 2007 he has served on various committees, including Finance, Rural Affairs & Environment, Education & Culture, and Justice. He is currently the Scottish Liberal Democrats spokesperson on Justice and the Climate Emergency.

Dame Prue Leith, RSA Chairman 1995-1997, was born in South Africa and is well known as a restaurateur, TV presenter and novelist. Amongst Prue’s major initiatives were campaigning re the “Fourth Plinth” in Trafalgar Square and “Focus on Food”. She has also served on diverse Boards. These include the chairmanship of Ashridge Management College and serving as an NXD on the various other boards including Safeway, Leeds Permanent Building Society, Halifax, Whitbread plc and several others including start-ups.

The Reverend Dr Sam Wells is acknowledged and respected as one of today’s most influential public theologians. He writes, speaks, preaches and broadcasts on a range of pastoral, political and theological issues. Sam has been Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square, London, since 2012. He is also Visiting Professor of Christian Ethics at King’s College London. He has served as a parish priest for 25 years – 10 of those in urban priority areas; he also spent 7 years in North Carolina, where he was Dean of Duke University Chapel. He is a regular contributor to Thought for the Day on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. He has published 46 books, including works on Christian ethics, ministry, liturgy, and preaching. His most recent book is How to Preach (Canterbury 2023).

Professor June Andrews is a professor of dementia studies and expert in care of older frail people at the end of life. A Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing, she has degrees in philosophy and law and advises families and care organisations. She has served on the board of charities such as the Life Changes Trust (a £50M dementia health related charity) affording her a perspective on care for older people at the end of life and the burdens faced by family carers. June has experience of communicating through radio and television on healthcare issues, and has a record of consulting and presenting lectures and seminars on health and social care issues in Europe, Australasia, North America, and the Middle East. Her books on dementia, care of older people and related issues have been best sellers. During COVID June worked in her local hospital.