Intended for healthcare professionals

Rapid response to:

Observations Assisted Suicide

The law as it stands on assisted suicide could not be clearer

BMJ 2009; 339 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.b3169 (Published 05 August 2009) Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b3169

Rapid Response:

And the law`s consequences more cruel

Terminally ill people will be enormously relieved that the
distinguished QC, Lord Carlile, feels able to reassure them that any fears
they may have that they will die
` badly ` are usually groundless. However his colleague, Baroness Finlay,
the equally distinguished palliative consultant, found it appropriate to
write in the BMJ* when the Joffe assisted dying bill was being debated
that ` educational programmes etc consistently find GPs and hospital
consultants are poor at controlling symptoms and relieving suffering....`
and ` many clinicians have seen suffering patients who they have been
unable to help.` As a member of the Select Committee considering Lord
Joffe`s Assisted Dying Bill he should also have long been aware that
Dignitas in Zurich have always offered assisted deaths both to the
terminally-ill and those suffering unbearably. When he is himself
terminally-ill it appears that there will be no physical or financial
burden that he will not be prepared to impose upon his family and friends
as well as wider society.

* 24/9/05 Vol 331

Competing interests:
None declared

Competing interests: No competing interests

06 August 2009
Don C Aston
retired
34 Burman Road, Shirley, Solihull B90 2BG