Aid in dying

Professor John Ashton, 
president of the Faculty of 
Public Health, suggests the
dying need the equivalent of midwives to help ease (and if necessary end) their suffering and pain.

The British Medical Association’s journal has editorial independence and supports Ashton arguing that the right to have choice over one’s life should include how and when we die (your report, 3 July).

It challenges such “surveys” of that of the Royal College of GPs saying: “Professional bodies go through the most extraordinary contortions to avoid asking doctors their opinion.”

In fact, non-identifiable surveys show many doctors admit to having resorted to euthanasia when the pain and discomfort suffered by a dying patient is beyond palliative care.

Aid in dying is simply another end-of-life decision 
and I believe it should be available to patients in extremis because modern medicine prevents nature taking its merciful course.

(Rev) Dr John 
Cameron

Howard Place

St Andrews