What I found very interesting is that the Tribunal system that Terry cited as a possible method of assessing each case does exist but for a different purpose.
A few years ago the Mental Health Tribunals were created in Scotland to handle the majority of matters that were previously handled by the Courts. Previously there was a Sheriff (Judge or Magistrate south of the border) that made the desision. Now it is a panel which includes of a Doctor specialising in the mental health field, a solicitor of long standing with good knowlege of mental health law.
This principal could be easily adapted for the purpose outlined by Terry. However it is not the method, it is the moral issue.
Now I am all for assisted death for those with illnesses such as Terry and indeed his late father. Give someone control over their own lives. We are born, we grow up, we make choices that determine the course of our future, we can choose to alter the course of our future. There are always things that we cannot control or choose but I can and do believe that we have the right to choose the manner of our dying when the manner of our living has been taken out of our hands. We should be able to alter the course of our future when faced with such horror as those with these illnesses are.
I would like to think that the general public would back such a bill were it to be put forward but I do believe that, though many will support it, there would be such a backlash from it that the political parties would not wish to address such a controversial issue and would shy away from dealing with fobbing it off onto the next pack of cowards. Am I wrong to have so little faith in my fellow countrymen?
Pubicity and enlightenment is the key and Terry has embraced this wholeheartedly. All I can say is that we are all behind you and will support you in whatever way we can, big or small.
M x
