Assisted dying

Professor Marie Fallon et al base their case against assisted dying on “sound experience of the realities of clinical practice’’ (Letters, 29 February).

Following a poll of its members, the Royal College of Physicians has now adopted a neutral stance on the issue of assisted dying. Nearly 7,000 doctors voted in the online poll, and 43 per cent thought the college should oppose a change in the law while 32 per cent wanted the college to support a change and 25 per cent were neutral.

The Royal College of Physicians president, Prof Andrew, Goddard, said: “It is clear that there is a range of views on assisted dying in medicine, just as there is in society.”

It would appear therefore that “sound experience’’ can lead to quite other conclusions than those reached by Professor Fallon.

DOUG CLARK Muir Wood Grove, Currie