Letter: The contradictions medics face when it comes to the debate over assisted dying
A letter from James Hardy:
Neonatal medicine advances and the 1967 Abortion Act present a conundrum.
Consider two unborn child at just under 24 weeks into pregnancy.
Both are at the same NHS hospital: one for "resuscitation" and one for "termination".
Are there similar contradictions with Esther Rantzen's call for so-called "assisted dying"?
NHS psychiatry colleagues often speak of an escalating number of self-harm consultations.
Complex risk assessments can take 1-2 hours and client numbers seen on a single shift can be high.
Assisted dying could leave us with this problem: one set of doctors at a hospital site advise clients to "choose life" while another group freely discuss the use of fatal poisons.
James Hardy, Belfast BT5