Dear Sir/ Madam
I wish to register my opposition to the End of Life Bill that will come before your Select Committee for consideration in the near future.
I understand that many of the arguments for this Bill will involve the suffering of men, women and children which is often distressing and tragic. Their feelings of helplessness and pain need to be respected.
I think that the hospice movement and contemporary pain medication along with love and care by relatives and the medical profession serves the vast majority of cases well.
I beg you to keep in mind the attitudes and pressures that will be placed on nurses, caregivers and doctors who will be asked to intentionally end someone's life under this legislation even with all the safeguards that are envisaged. To kill deliberately an innocent person necessarily violates the conscience of any right minded caregiver.
The "worried well" who stress and fret over the control they wish to have over their lives are disregarding the worries that attend how to treat, love and value the most vulnerable people who suffer in our society. Lucretia Seales, at the end, died a beautiful, natural death which edified her family and brought them together. This may be compared to the disastrous effect that Lesley Martin's actions had on both her family and marriage.
Life does need to be protected. It has a value common to all of us. This does not mean we need to prolong life unnaturally or at all costs but it does mean we should not choose to kill even when a person in pain wishes for that to happen.
Yours sincerely
Marcus Francis
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