Letter to the Editor: I am concerned that you should give such bold exposure — a front page and an inner two-page spread — (A right to die?, Cambrian News, 23 November) to the case of a lady who campaigns for legalised euthanasia, without more than a mention of the opposite point of view.

‘Hard cases make bad laws,’ unfortunately, and while I truly have the greatest sympathy for Louisa Eastland’s situation, many experiences in countries who have legalised euthanasia, including Canada (with a general lifestyle not that different to our own), are extremely concerning. Such legislation all too rapidly becomes a slippery slope and, once the killing of disabled people becomes accepted, the next move is to say that all disabled lives are worthless, and the killing escalates such that on occasion a person has been medically killed without the permission of next of kin; and even, in extreme cases, without a clear mandate to do so from the patient themselves. Defenceless older people become actually frightened to go into hospital as a result; tragically, eugenics is never as far away as we might like to think.

I have had some experience of the hospice movement and am deeply impressed by the ability of hospices to control the balance of pain relief against the desire for consciousness, with the medics taking care to reach such decisions in complete cooperation not only with the patient but the next of kin and, if wished, with a chaplain, too. The level of simple care, and the encouraging environment of hospices such as our own local Hosbis Dewi Sant - St David’s Hospice - in Llandudno, provide a wonderful setting in which to pass one’s last days; with plenty of care in the community available well before things become clearly terminal.

Dear editor, please ensure your reports are balanced, and not wielding a campaigning axe!

Bob Rainbow,

Penmorfa