Lord Joffe must now revive his bill whilst the subject is fresh in peoples minds. The hypocrisy of religiuos people beggers belief; they preach love, but always act in a way that shows love has little to do with their beliefs. I urge Lord Joffe to revive his bill without delay.

Barry Winchurch, Derby, Derbyshire

I am an trained nurse, and an atheist. I oppose assisted suicide because I believe that good nursing and medical care of the terminally ill can provide a pain-free and peaceful death. People can already refuse medical intervention if they wish.
I would be surprised if mine is a minority view.

P, dorset,

I'm sorry but ultimately - who has the say on whether I live or die on this Earth? Who gets to choose my fate? The fact that any third party has any say in my life in adversity is abhorrent. If I choose it, who are you to say "No - I choose that you should suffer more"? Live your life - leave me be!

Richard, Newbury, UK

Why should a dogmatic inhuman individuals deny the rest of us the choice of not suffering an unbearable pain for nothing and ending it with dignity. Anybody who is afraid of their family pushing them to die then they must sort out with the family instead of ruining our quality of life and death.

S Yogarajah, Harrow, UK

Absolutely correct. Enough of religious fanatics imposing their views on non-believers. The same argument supports a woman's right to an abortion with appropriate safeguards. We're adults! We can take rational decisions! Keep your beliefs to yourselves; let us decide for ourselves how & when we die!

JF, Canterbury, UK

Lord Joffe, be careful what you wish for. With the population increasingly skewed towards the elderly, I see a future where the old and the sick will be considered a burden on the young and forced to volunteer to die when they can no longer contribute. Does that scenario sound attractive to you?

john, london, UK

When those against the right to die, see their loved ones suffer, let's ask them again, shall we?

Francine Morris, Manchester, united Kingdom

I am fed up with the misconception that it is just a religious minority who is opposing the debate on assisted suicide. It is repulsive for many of us who are not religious, because it can lead to abuses and put the lives of the most vulnerable people in our society at risk.

Mary, London,

The assumption that Doctors will willingly or happily help with assisted suicide is rubbish. Quite the opposite. And neither should they be obliged to but you can bet that is where it will end-up. They will be expected to relinquish any objections as part of their 'duty of care' and that is not on.

Rob, London,

It is time to change the law so that those who are terminally ill have the right to a pain-free death at a time of their choice.

Modern medicine has enabled many of us to survive diseases which killed previous generations in a matter of months. The key issus is not life, but quality of life.

Malcolm Grills (Rev), Minchinhampton,

Joffe tainted his argument by belittling religious people's concerns and claiming to care about the poor. Until he can guarantee any dying patient's wish to have good basic nursing care is carried out, euthanasia will be abused despite the safeguards.

Carolyn, Surbiton,

I've always felt the best way to settle this is by a multiple-question referendum polling the different aspects of euthanasia by asking a wide variety of relevant questions. Then parliament will have some solid research to work with.

Living in the Netherlands; I'm now passionately pro-euthanasia.

Daquan Quartermaine, Middelburg, Netherlands

To the few opponents of this wise and considered perspective - Lord Joffe has listed the safeguards against abuse which seem to be adequate to prevent either misuse on an individual basis or a wholesale slide into mass suicide. The church has enough errors to answer for, let it not add to them.

tom, London,

Wonderfully argued Lord Joffe. It continues to astound me that this country continues to pander to the opinions of a vociferous religious minority, allowing them to interfere with decisions that have nothing to do with them, and will not (should they so wish) have any effect on their lives.

John Dale, Sunderland,

I am wholeheartedly in favour of assisted dying and hope that, should it be necessary, my family and Doctor could assist me without fear of prosecution.
With respect to those whose religion proscribes such I would not allow my pets to go through what some people endure.

Phoebe, Manchester, England

Attempted suicide used to be illegal. Then it became legal, but illegal for a second person to assist.
"Slippery slope" is no fallacy. Pretty soon we will have a pro-suicide culture, in which it becomes normal to end one's life deliberately.

Malcolm McLean, Bradford, UK

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;

Keith, bishkek, kyrgyzstan

Good article, and good argument. I hope and pray that something like what you're proposing will be in place before I get to the stage of working out how I die.

Anything would be better than the way I watched my father go, in helpless pain and fear, without the mercy we extend to pet animals.

T Austin, London, UK

Suicide is legal! I have asked on several occasions why a person helping another to pursue a legal act is considered to have committed a crime - it is illogical. The ramifications of this bad logic are horrendous - I legally by a car but my advisor could be held guilty; that is how stupid it is.

M. Cawdery, Portadown, Co. UK, EU courtesy Brown

the law ,
if it is changed, it should allow relatives only to complete the mission. Of course they will want to absolve all responsibility and lay the burden of guilt on doctors and nurses whose duty of care is being stretched ever more, but hey they dont realy care, do they?

Lizzy, Lincoln, uk

Senior members of the various religions in the UK make up more than half of the group upon whose beliefs and decisions
our Right to Die is decided.

What %of the UK is a member of a church?

By what right does any religious person have in my say in MY RIGHT TO DIE?

It is outragious.

Trish Niblock, Edinburgh, Midlothian

I have MS. The then husband decided he would rather be with someone who does not have MS and said he would kill me to achieve that, having apparently already taken over all my finances against my will.
Society must not recognise this or any other reason for murder as permissable. Murder is murder

Sue Doughty, Twyford, UK

Give us the right to end our own lives in peace, no one is telling you what to do so don't tell us that want to die that we must keep suffering. My Aunt took her own life last year by refusing food & drinks, it was her wish so although we miss her why should we force her to live, now she is at rest.

Contax, Brigg, UK