This letter and others on these pages give examples of good points to raise in writing to MPs or Peers about the Joffe Bill. Put the ideas in your own words and add a personal angle based on your own experience of the issues.

Dear...

I am writing to express my concern about the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill, which aims to legalise assisted suicide and receives its second reading in the House of Lords on 12 May.

Because of the difficulties in getting voluntary euthanasia (VE) accepted the pro-euthanasia lobby have directed their attention to the seemingly softer target of physician-assisted suicide (PAS). It was calculated by a recent House of Lords Select Committee that a Netherlands-type law (VE and PAS) would lead to 13,000 new deaths per annum in Britain, whereas an Oregon-type law (PAS only) would lead to 650 deaths per annum.

But in fact VE and PAS are ethically equivalent because in both cases the intention of the doctor is to end the life of the patient. There is little practical difference between placing lethal medication in a patient's hand and placing it in a patient's mouth! PAS is simply 'euthanasia one step back'.

Legalising PAS would also bring in euthanasia because of:

• Incapacity
  Some patients would be physically incapable of ending their own lives (eg through paralysis) so VE back-up would be required.
• Failure rates
  Even with a prescription, PAS has a failure rate. Some patients vomit, while others fail to die despite large doses of drugs. In these situations, a doctor will always be required for the coup de grâce.
• Incremental extension
  Once doctors begin practising PAS there will be those who will 'push the limits' and euthanasia will inevitably follow. When the patient - the 'key witness' - is dead, who is to say whether it was suicide or euthanasia?

I urge you to oppose this bill.

Yours sincerely