A DETERMINED group of pensioners have taken their right-to-die fight to the Scottish Parliament.

Militant Retired have lodged a petition at Holyrood calling for a referendum on assisted death.

The group's founder George Anderson said: "If I got to a stage where I was very ill, I would want the right to die to end my suffering.

"It's all about having a dignified death, rather than seeing people forced to exile themselves in Europe for treatment.

"I think it is an absolute disgrace that politicians are so afraid of the issue they allow this to happen.

"We need a rethink about end-of-life care and how we go about it and I feel a referendum is the way forward."

The former primary teacher was also a student nurse at Glasgow's Stobhill Hospital in the 1970s.

And it was his experiences of caring for terminally ill patients that led to his decision to fight for choice over assisted death.

"I cared for the terminally ill, both young and old, and was left feeling there must be a better way of facing our last days.

"People die dreadful deaths in hospital, hooked up to machines. At times, it's about changing nappies and keeping their heart beating. And for what?

"We should be able to have a dignified death and we need a rethink. A referendum is the way forward.

"These days, people make living wills where they are able to say they don't want resuscitation at a certain stage of treatment.

"I think giving people the chance to decide whether they want to end their suffering, should they get very sick, is sensible."

George, 75, lodged the group's referendum bid with the parly's Petitions Committee on December 8 - just two days before Sky telly documentary Real Lives screened the assisted suicide of motor neurone disease sufferer Craig Ewert, 59, in Switzerland.

George, from Dunfermline, added: "It is unbelievable just how afraid politicians are of the issue, there is a huge religious backlash over it and they want to steer clear.

"But it's something that more and more people want to face and properly debate.

"The fact a man filmed his death for TV shows the conviction for this issue."

Independent MSP Margo MacDonald, 65, launched her consultation paper for a Holyrood bill to legalise doctor-assisted suicide last month.

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