"An Act of Bravery or a Tragic Killing"

From The Scotsman, Wed 25 Jan.

"Julia Millington, the political director of the Pro-life Alliance, said the terminally ill should be treated rather than helped to die.

'We are very saddened that Dr Turner felt that her life was of such little value that she chose to end it,' she said. 'Surely we need to find better ways of killing the suffering rather than killing the patient.'

Euthanasia is about choice. It is impossible for Julia Millington to experience the exact impulses that led Dr Turner to choose to die before the illness from which she was suffering denied her that choice. It is wholly reductive to suggest that Dr Turner's actions were motivated by a de-valuing of her life and the above statement makes no case whatsoever for the continuing prohibition of euthanasia in this country.

Surely the debate that should be taking place, if any, is about control and choice rather than 'value of life'. A life is only worth something of value to you if it's yours and yours to control.

The Catholic Church of Scotland added;

"The situation must never arise where the terminally-ill or the very elderly feel pressurised by society to end their lives."

In what way would on opening up of choice and control to an individual facing pain, suffering and degeneration result in a common societal desire for anyone old or ill to die?