I am instinctually in favour of assisted suicide. But the programme left me feeling uncomfortable. I have no time for the religious argument. And yet, I hesitate to fully sign up for the cause \u201d\u201c simply because I wanted to die once, and have been enormously relieved that I never did anything about it.<\/p>\n
Admittedly I was suffering mental rather than physical illness \u201d\u201c in my case acute depression. I had been suffering agony for four years and saw no end in sight. But with hindsight it is plain to me that you can be very serious about your wanting to die, having taken all matters into account \u201d\u201c and most of those around me thought I was absolutely in my right mind \u201d\u201c then later discover that you very nearly made a literally fatal mistake….<\/p>\n
The “thin edge of the wedge” argument is somewhat convincing. Once assisted suicide is established in law, how long before the patient and their relatives decide how serious the illness has to be before the decision is taken, rather than doctors?<\/p>\n