PETER Greenhalgh (July 9) says Brian Pretty was wrong in going to court to try to get protection to help his wife to die. Peter says Brian should have acted first and taken the consequences later.

But surely, Peter, had he done that, as the law stands now, that would have been murder.

Peter says the courts were right to refuse Brian the right to help his terminally ill wife to die. He says, had they allowed this, they would have set a precedent which would allow unscrupulous people to legally murder their terminally ill relatives.

Well, yes, the courts must protect us from our unscrupulous relatives. However, I strongly believe in voluntary euthanasia, whereby the terminally ill and those in great pain are allowed, or assisted, to die with dignity.

But these decisions must not be made by family members alone. At least two doctors, the medical staff concerned, and, wherever possible, the patients themselves must also be involved.

If has been said that 80 per cent of the population are in favour of this kind of voluntary euthanasia, yet David Crausby and Brian Iddon both oppose euthanasia in any form.

We do not want family members killing each other, nor do we want doctors telling medical staff to stop feeding patients. We need full consultation before any decisions are made.

Yes, we should all have the right to die with dignity. We must also have the right to live if we so wish.Brain Derbyshire

Ribchester Grove

Bolton