Sir, Unlike Chris Johnston (Wednesday’s Letters), I am a supporter of assisted suicide and the recent death of my mother reinforced my view that the law should change to allow us all that option.
My mother coped bravely with years of illness but her final two months were a nightmare for her. She was not afraid of dying but kept asking: “Why does it have to take so long?” She desperately wanted to be given a drug that would end her suffering but the law denied her any such option. Why should that be so?
With systems in place to ensure that people requesting help to die are doing so of their own volition, all rational adults should be allowed to decide for themselveswhen death has become preferable to continued suffering.
Excellent palliative care is available and my mother received the best possible attention in a nursing home where the staff were wonderful, but that didn’t alter the fact that life no longer gave her pleasure and she wanted it to end.
Opponents of the right to choose cite palliative care as an alternative to assisted suicide, as if the mere existence of that care means that there is no need for anyone to choose suicide.
This simply isn’t true. Even if it were possible for all pain to be controlled by drugs (which doesn’t seem to be the case), there are other things to fear. Becoming helpless, lacking dignity and privacy and waking every morning to a life that no longer holds any joy add up to a nightmare I certainly don’t want to face. If and when I get to that stage, I want to be able to get help to have a quick and dignified exit at a time and place of my own choosing.
I sincerely hope that the law will change soon enough to allow me to do that.
Moira Symons. 17 Woodlands Gardens, Dundee.
Block off the escape route
Sir, A Scottish Government spokeswoman has ruled out a special inquiry into the case of a Murray Royal patient who has absconded seven times in a year. However, an inquiry is not necessary. All that is required is for those responsible for the patient’s care to exercise a little common sense and concern for his and the public’s welfare (The Courier, 15/11).
How could a patient be allowed out into the hospital grounds (from where he recently absconded) if he had gone missing six times in the previous 12 months? Perhaps Murray Royal no longer has the secure accommodation it used to. In which case, those responsible for his care should urgently have been seeking secure accommodation in another hospital.
I know there is a crisis in the NHS and psychiatrists are at their wits’ end trying to find any kind of accommodation for patients. If such is the situation, then the next step should be, after seven abscondings, a transfer to a secure hospital, such as Carstairs, until a place in a locked ward in a local psychiatric hospital is found.
George K McMillan. 5 Mount Tabor Avenue, Perth.
Roadworks a debacle
Sir, Following the debacle that has been the Rattray High Street roadworks, I feel compelled to express the sheer frustration at the unreasonably lengthy inconvenience suffered by the residents on the east side of Hatton Road junction.
Roadworks that were meant to have lasted one week and completed during the school holidays turned in to a marathon lasting some four weeks, when we were effectively isolated and seemingly ignored, having to use a dangerous “rat run” to get to Blairgowrie or the other half of Rattray, the diversion for which was some 10 miles.
I cannot believe we were allowed to get on with it and suffer the consequences of a blocked manhole, a situation which, I believe, happened on day one of the works and may have been avoidable not to mention the considerable time it took for the contractor to attend the site and commence lengthy repairs, before surfacing was eventually completed.
Given time we will no doubt forget about thedisruption caused and enjoy he smooth surface but right now I feel let down by Perth and Kinross Council, who have kept a low profileduring the full length ofthe works with only a brief apology being made.
Karl Mattner. St Aidans, New Road, Rattray.
Pots, kettles and acronyms
Sir, It was with considerable interest that I read the letter by Jim Duthie in Thursday’s edition. He quotes a large amount of acronyms, ranging from the IFS to the OECD, in discussing a situation he says is promoted by neo-classical, laissez-faire economists like those at the Treasury.
He then goes on to point to a projection that Scotland will become an economic powerhouse. Surely this comes from the leader of the SNP, Alex Salmond, who was trained as a neo-classical, laissez-faire economist during his RBS days.
Willie Robertson. Grianan, Lynton, Stanley.
In low esteem for a reason
Sir, I was appalled to hear on the national news that MPs have a “serious grievance” about their salary. A salary in excess of £70,000 is beyond the dreams of most people, never mind the often-“fiddled”expenses.
Is it any wonder voter apathy is widespread when this is what we are faced with? I have always used my vote as it was hard-fought for over many years, especially female suffrage, and I am thankful the forthcoming referendum is for a decision and not a political party as, for the first time in my life, I might not have voted.
Michael Diack. 14 Biggin Wa’s, Kirkcaldy.