Scotland assisted suicide sponsor accepted money from the assisted suicide lobby and the US pharmaceutical industry.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Liam McArthur received 35,949 pounds ($45,800 US dollars) from euthanasia lobby groups and the US pharmaceutical industry to hire a staff member who is lobbying for his assisted suicide bill.

John Ferguson, the Sunday Mail political editor reported on December 8 that:

The MSP behind Scotland’s assisted dying bill accepted thousands of pounds from a euthanasia lobby group with links to a tax haven and the US pharmaceutical industry.

Lib Dem Liam McArthur’s register of interests reveal he received £35,949 - with Dignity in Dying providing £11,983 of the total - to fund a member of staff to work on his campaign.

He was also among a group of MSPs who accepted travel, accommodation and meals worth £2,694 each from Dignity in Dying to travel to California to meet advocates of the state’s End of Life Options Act.

Ferguson also reported about other concerning donations

Dignity in Dying’s sister charity Compassion in Dying received £300,000 from Church Street Trustees - a secretive firm registered in St Helier on Jersey which was named in the notorious Panama Papers data leak.

US Securities Exchange Commission filings show the offshore company is linked to a number of senior business figures and American big pharma interests including NovoCure and Channel Islands firm Volati.

McArthur told Ferguson that he has registered the funding and the source of the money is an issue for Dying in Dignity.