SIR – Re: suicide law campaigner backs Daniel James family.

I agree with Mr and Mrs James’ decision to assist their son Daniel to travel to Switzerland where he could have a peaceful and dignified death that would release him from his pain and suffering. I hope there is someone like them around if I lose quality of life.

I am a Second World War veteran and it would give me great peace of mind if I could get medical assistance to die in a dignified manner if I should lose quality of life.

It is my firm opinion that enforced prolonged life when quality of life is lost is a fate worse than death. I fear degeneration far more than I fear death. It is inhumane to leave those who have lost quality of life, whether it be a terminal illness or deterioration that leaves them confined to a nursing home.

I have therefore appointed an enduring guardian with a direction that if I should lose quality of life I do not want any treatment that will prolong my life and neither do I want any further sustenance.

BILL ALCOCK, Port Macquarie, NSW, Australia.