NOW that Diane Pretty is at last free from anguish, I feel anger that she had to continue to live a life of suffering when she had no hope of improvement, and when she had begged for death.

I also feel regret because Diane asked the courts to permit her husband to help her to die. Had she asked for permission for professional medical help she might have been more successful in court.

Surely a mentally competent and terminally ill patient who is suffering unbearably, and who has persistently asked for medical help to die, should be given it provided legal safeguards are met. Such patients should not be forced to drag themselves through the courts.

The way forward, with legal safeguards, must be physician-assisted suicide.

D Bampton

Butts Road

Chiseldon