CRUSADE COMPASSION FOR THE DYING

options with patients, desperate people may not be aware of other methods of end-of-life care.”

Lord Bethell, an under-secretary for the Department of Health in the House of Lords, said the Government was “not currently funding specific research into how many people with a terminal illness die as a result of suicide per year, but welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of health”.

Campaigners against assisted suicide argue the figures do not indicate a need for change.they say there is evidence legalisation leads to an increase in the number of suicides and increasing pressure on disabled or elderly people to avoid becoming a “burden”.

Dr Gordon Macdonald, of Care Not Killing, said: “These are troubling figures and will no doubt be seized upon by those campaigning to legalise assisted suicide and euthanasia.

“No major doctors’ group in the UK, or disability rights organisation, supports changing the law.

“What they do support is striving to provide the very best level of palliative care to those who need it – care that meets the physical, psychological and social needs of those who are ill.”

A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said: “We have deep sympathy for all those in this heartbreaking situation.

“Any change to the law in an area of such sensitivity and importance must be for individual MPS to consider rather than a decision for Government.”