Discussions aroung euthanasia etc here in the UK always raise the spectre of respectable middle-class couples quietly haranguing Granny to off herself before she has to sell the house to pay for the Care Home. Too many of these folk bank on their inheritance to smooth out their retirement finances (pay off or do up the house, buy a new car, etc). It is, of course, useless to point out that if they hadn't insisted on voting Tory time and again then the Care Home would probably be State funded.

From a purely philosophicla viewpoint, a persons' life is their own and thy shoud have the right to end it when and how they choose - all other things beng equal - and assistance in doing so should be avaialble for those who need it. Even to the extent of being ale to obtain the necessary medication through their GP or a qualified Consultant.

The issue with the ter Beek case and others like it is that for a person of that age, there is always the possibility that a new treatment will emerge a few years down the line. It therefore becomes a choice between hanging on in hope or deciding that the situation is simply too intolerable. What bothers me about Zoraya ter Beek is that she had a partner, a boyfriend, who presumably acquiesced in and supported her decision; I cannot see him doing so unless her situation really was intolerable (or he's a sociopath). In this case, they had no children, but if legally dependant children had been involved, then I would have expected her to be denied assisted death. No right should ever be exercised when doing so will allow or lead to such a dereliction of duty.