IT would be interesting to have the figures from countries that have introduced assisted dying instead of emotional hyperbole (The rights and wrongs of assisted dying, Letters, May 7). The same styles of arguments are being put forward as were made against gay rights 20-30 years ago: youngsters will be coerced into it, it’s against the Bible’s teaching, and celebrants will be forced to conduct marriages against their
principles.
I attended a talk by a Dignitas representative before the Scottish Parliament vote on assisted dying. He said that in Scotland there would probably be two to three cases per year.
Compare that to the 350-plus deaths on Scottish roads and the possible suicides hardly register. No-one seems bothered about the toll on our roads, yet a vociferous opposition is mounted against two or three potential suicides. Why? Then there is the moral issue. For me there is no God. While I agree with many of the tenets of Christianity, I disagree that life is a sacred gift from God. I object to the notion that Christians can claim precedence over what happens to my body. My body is mine and should I decide I have had enough, I wish to be able to make that decision for
myself.
What Colin Campbell is doing is amazing (Given my circumstances my death will be an easy one ... My journey to death, May 14). The cruel part is that played by the selfish, sadistic and dictatorial fundamentalists who want to push their irrelevant doctrines on others who don’t agree. Where are the statistics that show “vulnerable” people being coerced? What is wrong with elderly people deciding they have had enough? Where is the proof that the disabled and vulnerable are at risk? Doctors who don’t want to do it won’t have to take part.
Colin JW Torrance
West Linton
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