Human dignity

Thank you, Tiffany Jenkins, (Perspective, 19 July) for your thoughtful and well-reasoned rejection of any moves to legalise assisted dying. I am glad that many people who claim no religious affiliation see through the specious nature of much of the rhetoric of the pro-euthanasia movement.

I watched a fair part of the debate in the House of Lords on Lord Falconer’s Assisted Dying Bill. I was impressed not only by the gravity, conciseness and politeness of the speeches, but also by the reliance of the supporters of the bill on emotive anecdotes and general statements without much hard evidence to back them up.

To my mind, the opponents of the bill won the debate hands down as they dismantled the principles on which the bill is built and showed its inadequacies and dangers as a piece of legislation. The bill will now be scrutinised by a committee, where, hopefully, it will once again become evident that such a law is incoherent, demeaning to human dignity and dangerous to society. This would then turn our thoughts as a compassionate society to providing better palliative and long-term care for all who need them.

Rev Dr Donald M 
MacDonald

Craiglockhart Grove

Edinburgh