AS I approach the evening of my life there is one specific area of concern that has yet to be openly faced and resolved for us all. That is: our right to die naturally?

The pro-euthanasia lobby make their decisions while they are supremely fit and healthy.

Those decisions are invariably reversed when they themselves are stricken by the weakness and the helpless vulnerability that is engendered by illness. For, to cling to life is inherent.

Time and again parental love has stood firm when told by doctors to sanction the switching off of a life support machine and time and again parents have been proven to be right, as in the case of Grace Rehua (Sunday Telegraph Oct 10, 04) whose chance of survival at premature birth was deemed to be zero, brain-damaged, blind and deaf.

Today, Grace Rehua is a very happy and healthy 16 year old!

When a loved one, be it family or friend, is taken ill, we need to be there to fight for them and with them, because the strength and the power of love is indefinable and often a far greater healer than any medication.

To disregard the sanctity of life is to play God, however one perceives the Deity. As such, it is a crime against humanity.

We need, as a civilised and caring society, to remove the fear and the dread that such power engenders.

The infirm, handicapped, the newborn and the elderly are all vulnerable . . . and need re-assurance that they will not be starved to death when someone takes it upon themselves to decide that a life is of no further use.

We have been failing our most vulnerable brothers and sisters for far too long. Quality of life is variable, but just as sacred.

This was movingly stressed by Carol Glass whose physically impaired son was admitted to hospital where he was immediately put on diamorphine.

Carol removed the drip and took her son home. That was five years ago!

She took her battle for David's Right to the European Court of Human Rights where the seven judges unanimously agreed that there had been a violation of David's right to physical integrity and private life as laid out in Article Eight of the European Convention of Human Rights. In David's medical notes had been written: "Do not resuscitate and don't bother to consult the family."

To sanction euthanasia, by the back door, is a slippery slope that is fraught with evil intent, greed, and deaths of convenience. We must not erode our respect for each other, our dignity, our compassion and our depth of understanding when it is most needed.

M RATCLIFFE

Old Town