Dear Editor:
Re: Legalize assisted suicide now, Letters to the editor, Burnaby NOW, Jan. 31.
I read this letter with great amazement. The writer believes that doctors should not have the legal right towards assisted suicide because such an act goes against their primary purpose, which is to save lives. I could not have agreed more with the writer on that opinion.
However, the writer also says that assisted suicide should be legal but executed by people with different set of skills.
He goes on saying that (his words) "the person doing the job" must first determine that quality of life is the issue, rather than just temporary depression.
And, if this skilled person arrives at the conclusion that the reason the person wanting to end his/her life is indeed related to "quality of life," then he/she should have the right to a person skilled at killing.
Though I understand the whole compassionate side of this subject, I am nevertheless of the opinion that killing, for whatever purpose, makes you a murderer. But that aside, who would these people with special skills be? Should they have a degree in assisted killing? A family member waiting for inheritance? Someone with the referred skills that could be paid to do so?
I believe that if I want to end my life I could do so in many ways, and I could do so in a peaceful way without putting that kind of responsibility/onus on anyone's shoulders.
Frank Di Cesare, Burnaby
