Kill pain, not patients

SIR – Lord Hunt of Kings Heath outlined some of the dangers that would result if the Assisted Dying Bill were to become law (Comment, October 4). These include it being requested by vulnerable patients who fear becoming a burden or who are pressurised by those who might gain from their death.

However, the most worrying consequence of effectively allowing doctors to kill their patients, whatever the restrictions put in place, is the impact it will have on the medical profession itself and the relationship of patients with their doctors.

I am an 88-year-old woman and was recently diagnosed with kidney cancer. The only certain cure would be the removal of the kidney, which my doctors are reluctant to recommend because of the high risks such a major operation holds for someone my age.

Three months ago, I underwent a procedure whereby the surgeon managed to destroy the existing tumour. I am scheduled to have the same procedure again in a few days’ time. The hope is that the cancer has not regrown or, if it has, that it can again be successfully treated. My doctors consider that undergoing this procedure at regular intervals is a better option for me.

When faced with decisions such as this it is vital that I can trust doctors to respect and support me, and provide any ameliorating treatment necessary, and not to think that killing me is the best way of dealing with my problems. If euthanasia were legal, it would totally undermine my trust in doctors.

We have seen in other countries what happens when the concept of “lives not worth living” is accepted. The stated conditions necessary for euthanasia to be carried out become challenged, stretched or ignored. In the state of Oregon, where a law similar to the Bill being presented by Baroness Meacher has been in place for some years, the reason given for 60 per cent of cases carried out is fear of becoming a burden.

As doctors become accustomed to delivering a lethal drug, their duty of care to their patients is distorted. They no longer strive to make their dying days pain free and comfortable. Such care requires time and resources.

As Dame Cicely Saunders, a pioneer of palliative care, said: “To kill the pain there is no need to kill the patient.” Anne Whitehouse

Walberton, West Sussex