LETTER : Support for living wills

From Dr Michael Irwin

Sir: Regarding Peggy Norris's negative remarks about living wills or advance directives ("Signing your life away", 7 March), I would like to remind her that more than a year ago, in January 1994, the BMA issued a statement which said it "strongly supports the principle of an advance directive". Also, in the same month, the Prime Minister, in answering a parliamentary question, said "HMG acknowledge the right of individuals to draw up advance directives."

Laws supporting living wills already exist in other countries such as Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands; also several states in the US have similar laws. And, in this country, the Law Commission last week, in a report on mental incapacity, called for advance directives to be made legal.

I respect the views of those like Dr Norris who are strongly opposed to advance directives, and also to voluntary euthanasia. But I trust that she can understand that there are many individuals who wish to maintain some degree of control on how they are treated at the end of their lives, and also that the majority of people in this country (a National Opinion Poll in 1993 put the figure at 79 per cent) support the legislation of voluntary euthanasia for the incurably ill, and I would hope that, in turn, she could respect our opinions.

Yours faithfully,

MICHAEL IRWIN

London, SW3

The writer is a former United Nations Medical Director.