Sta,—I have read with interest Mr. C. Bavin's letter. I
am surprised that Mr. Bavin consulted Dr. Leslie Weatherhead on the subject of euthanasia. Had he consulted someAld the leaders of the medical profession he would '
have received an authegOc opinion on this matter. Mr. Bavin states that Dr. Leslie Weatherheacirm his sermon agreed to euthanasia for incurable diseases. Fortunately members of the medical profession know their
own limitations, and doctors hesitate to pronounce emphatically on the incurability of certain diseases. Every general practitioner can record instances of almost miraculous recovery. Personally, I can recall the case of a lady of over sixty years who had cancer of the bowel. A first-class surgeon was unable to.exoise the growth, which was proved by micro- scopical examination to be malignant. We, therefore, all pronounced her case to be hopeless. But the fact remains that the growth entirely disappeared and she died some fifteen years later of heart disease, having enjoyed life thoroughly in the interim. At the time of operation she was pre-eminently a case for euthanasia.
Any doctor of long experience uses inverted commas when speaking of cure and incurability. The majority of the members of the medical profession, when they reflect on such cases as I have quoted, are bound to consider euthanasia to be morally and scientifically wrong.—I am, Sir,
Previous page
