Members of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society (VES) in York and world-wide will rejoice at the news that the Netherlands Parliament has passed a law to allow voluntary euthanasia. The requirement is that the patient is terminally ill, has no hope of ever being able to live a reasonable life again and, in full knowledge of this situation, has asked a doctor to end his or her life.

The drugs or injection needed to do this would then be legally provided by the doctor and administered either by him or by the patients themselves if they are able to. Two doctors, one a consultant, will have had to agree on the treatment and the action must be reported.

It is time desperately sick people in this country had the right to ask for help in ending a life that has become intolerable and to die in peace and dignity with the help of doctors without legal repercussions.

Joyce Pickard,

Saville Grove, York.