IAN Donaldson ('Voluntary euthanasia is the road to hell') is right to be concerned about elderly people. He is wrong to think that my Bill would harm them in any way. The Bill contains all the necessary safeguards to ensure that this does not happen. It is a Bill driven by compassion to allow competent adults who are suffering unbearable pain to ask their doctors to help them die with dignity if this is what they wish.

It may well be that Mr Donaldson believes in the sanctity of life regardless of the amount of individual suffering and I respect his right to so believe in relation to his own life. However, I suggest that he has no right to seek to impose his views on those of us who do not share his beliefs.

JOEL JOFFE

Liddington Manor

Liddington

Swindon