Quote of the day

“All doctors have the knowledge and – usually – the means to end their lives … and quite a few use this privilege, even if it doesn’t appear on their death certificates. Doctors are also more likely to have medical friends and relations prepared to assist if necessary. As a doctor, this is a great comfort to me and I don’t see why enabling the unmedical to share this comfort is wrong in an age when deference and privilege are increasingly unfashionable.”

Dr Colin Brewer in evidence to the Commission on Dying, December 2011