Letters: How to support the dying

Life support

Sir: If the Terminally Ill (End of Life) Bill is passed into law we will have crossed the Rubicon. As the second reading vote on 29 November approaches, it is astonishing that we are hearing less debate than on the loss of the winter fuel payment. There should be the mother of all debates. The issues surrounding assisted dying are immensely complicated and the arguments for and against are powerful. On the one hand it may shorten and ease a dreadful death and on the other it may put pressure on the dying and be deficient in its application.

However, the trite adage that hard cases make bad law has great weight, especially if the law is made too quickly and without the fullest informed consideration. I am against assisted dying not just because of my faith but the practical fear that government will mismanage its implementation. As your editorial (‘Death trap’, 16 November) identifies, the reach of its application could extend in the way we have seen in Canada and the Netherlands.