Dire consequences of the suicide bill

Published on Saturday 13 September 2008 19:36

IT WOULD be a great sadness if Margo MacDonald's only real achievement was to bring about a law which although would suit her purposes would have such horrendous consequences for many old and infirm whom she doesn't even represent ('Suicide row GP talks of his future', August 31).

The same applies to Iain Kerr who at one time took the Hippocratic Oath which I understand to mean, to use one's skills and training to make patients well again in mind and body. Maybe in the light of some doctors' actions we should pass a bill and change it to the Hypocrite Oath.

Now in my seventies, Margo MacDonald's intention to put forward a bill to make assisted suicide legal fills me with dread. Such a bill, if successful, would soon become euthanasia once people have reached a certain level of incapacity, instead of showing some love and kindness to the old and infirm when it's most needed.

It's sad how some doctors in Britain would use their skill today. In some cases, old, infirm and terminally ill are left without food and water for days, where they die a long protracted agonising death. They have the gall to call it "mercy killing". Mercy? Nothing could be further from the truth.

While money is thrown around like confetti on armaments and grants to numerous groups, there is a serious shortage of cash when it comes to caring for our old and infirm. The mention of palliative care is almost abhorrent in the thinking of these people who would have us believe are so full of mercy.

R Monaghan, Glasgow