Sir, Philip Collins (“If we value life, we’ll allow assisted dying”, Nov 23) notes that the medical profession opposes legalisation of physician-assisted suicide. Doctors can diagnose illness and offer an estimate of life expectancy, though reaching a prognosis is far from being an exact science. But many of the key issues here, such as the presence of a settled wish to die or the absence of pressure, are personal or social rather than medical. Embedding assisted suicide in medicine may help to wrap it in an aura of beneficence but handing lethal drugs to seriously ill patients is not a role for doctors. Professor Rob GeorgeMedical director, St Christopher’s Hospice, LondonSir, We should congratulate Philip Collins for putting the…

Source: The Times November 24, 2018 00:00 UTC