The kindest cut

Picking up on Bob Taylor’s letter of 5 May, we supporters of “assisted dying” certainly agree that all reasonable precautions should be taken by those involved to protect the terminally ill from exploitation by grasping relatives and the like.

An initial precaution may well be to restrict the law to only those of us who are indeed terminally ill, but also over the age of 70. If that sounds harsh then consider that younger persons have the benefit of time during which a cure may be found for their condition. With experience such a restriction may be refined.

In the meantime it remains a national disgrace that only those rich enough to be able to afford to travel to Switzerland can avail themselves of what seems to many us to be the ultimate kindness we can show to one another – a painless and dignified departure from a nolonger-tolerable life.

TIM FLINN

Garvald, East Lothian