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Diane and Brian Pretty's fight for Voluntary Euthanasia

This is not the first time that an unfortunate family, in which the mother suffers from Motor Neurone disease, has been persuaded that it is more dignified and less fearful to be put to death by a doctor than to accept natural death, and has been cynically used by the euthanasia lobby and the media to influence public opinion to accept killing by doctors.

There is a hidden agenda to these campaigns. It is already suggested that some patients cost too much to keep (report, Daily Mail, June 21st 2001). Some people would feel it was their duty to request euthanasia, if it were made legal. It is easy for doctors to kill, as we know from the case of Dr. Shipman. If the law against it were to go, no helpless patient could feel safe. Doctors and nurses could face subtle coercion to fall in with a killing programme. Anyone who doubts this should read the new B.M.A. Guidance on Withholding and Withdrawing Life-Prolonging Medical Treatment. What is recommended in it is involuntary euthanasia for incapacitated people. 

Diane Pretty and her husband deserve our utmost sympathy, but it is the Hospice movement which truly respects the dignity of dying patients, while dealing with unpleasant symptoms and making their remaining life meaningful to them and to their families. This is because its doctors and nurses believe in the value of every individual. At present, they have some support from the law. But if Diane Pretty were to be legally put to death like Timothy McVeigh there might in future, for people just like her, be no-one to turn to.

Issued on 25th July 2001