A doctor and his wife have made arrangements with lawyers to take their own lives if assisted suicide is legalised in Scotland.
David Stevenson said he and his partner wanted to be able to take action “should we find ourselves in the circumstances we so wish to avoid”.
He said his views had been influenced by his dealings with patients and families, and watching his mother and mother-in-law struggle with dementia.
Dr Stevenson, an accident and emergency specialist at Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin and Raigmore Hospital in Inverness, submitted a written submission to Holyrood’s health and sport committee, which is examining the Assisted Suicide (Scotland) Bill.
He wrote: “My parents had both expressed the wish verbally when they were well that should they find themselves in such circumstances we should ‘push them over a cliff’.
“Unfortunately, there is no current provision in law to allow this, or any other more humane means of assisted suicide.
“I do believe that it should be permissible in the circumstances provided for in this bill to assist another to commit suicide.”
Dr Stevenson said be believed it was essential that safeguards were put in place to prevent abuse of assisted suicide if it becomes law.
He said: “To this end my wife and I, with the assistance of our lawyer have carefully drafted and signed affidavits expressing our wishes in this regard, in the belief that central to such a bill would be a requirement that written, signed and witnessed statements made when of sound mind should be a prerequisite to prevent such a law being abused.”
Dr Stevenson said his mother would be eligible for assisted suicide if it was legal and “could be spared from the daily hell that is her current existence”.
Campaigners fighting for assisted suicide to be legalised in Scotland have claimed a majority of people support the policy.
The My Life My Death My Choice group has said it appeared most of the 500 responses to a consultation on the bill were in favour of a change in the law.
But a spokeswoman for the Scottish Parliament said an official analysis had yet to be carried out.
She said members of the committee were not due to scrutinise the controversial legislation until November.
Green MSP Patrick Harvie is taking forward the Bill on behalf of former independent MSP Margo MacDonald, who died in April after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease.
MSPs rejected similar right-to-die plans in 2010, but campaigners are more confident the revised bill will get support because checks and balances have been built in to ensure people were not coerced into taking their own lives unwillingly.
The Scottish Government and faith groups do not support the legislation, but MSPs will be given a free vote.
Dr Peter Kiehlmann, who works at Danestone Medical Practice in Aberdeen, said he was opposed to the bill because he was trained to “cure people”.
Dr Martin Wilson, who is based at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness, said the bill would create “impossible dilemmas” for doctors.