The whole tenor of the push for euthanasia (Letters, January 29) is for
people like Lecretia Seales whose illness is incurable. That’s
hardly unforeseeable circumstances excusing the attending physician from
maintaining the patient’s life, which is the meaning of Dr Tony Atkinson’s
obscure expression, “force majeure”.
As for the “huge toll” taken by euthanasia on the attending
physician, Atkinson could read Josie Crawley’s story in the same issue. It’s
family who take the major toll, can take it bravely and turn it to good
account.
“Aidemort” is Atkinson’s own pseudo-French euphemism for a lethal injection
or its equivalent. David Seymour’s End of Life Choice Bill is certainly
irredeemably flawed, but for doctors who live by the Hippocratic oath there’s no
moral and ethical hazard. They know a physician is there to sustain life, not to
end it.
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