Henry Marsh, one of the UK’s leading brain surgeons and a bestselling author, has called for an urgent inquiry into assisted dying after revealing he has advanced prostate cancer.
Marsh, the author of Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery, said dying of cancer could be “a very horrible business” but the law “insists I must suffer”. Politicians had “shown a striking lack of compassion by ducking this issue for too long and are inadvertently guilty of great cruelty”, he said.
His call for an inquiry is backed by more than 50 MPs and peers from different parties, some of whom have previously voted against changing the law. Their letter to Robert Buckland, the justice secretary, argues that the UK has now fallen behind many other countries on the issue of assisted dying.
Last month Spain became the latest European country to approve legislation giving patients with incurable diseases or unbearable conditions the right to choose to end their lives with the assistance of a doctor. » | Harriet Sherwood | Thursday, April 1, 2021
