Your suggestion to start a discussion on euthanasia in Malta (The right to die, TMID, 8 January), made interesting reading.

Yet I doubt whether the Church authorities in Malta will allow a healthy discussion to develop. Just as much as they do not look kindly on anyone who tries to start off a discussion on divorce and abortion, any proposal for a discussion on euthanasia will be shot down.

I understand your point of view, however. I do believe that everyone is entitled to choose one’s future, and if this future means that one decides to request to die simply because there is no future available, then one should be entitled to it.

Today’s science has improved so much that doctors are able to foretell how many months or weeks people with a terminal illness will live. This often means a spell of suffering for the victim and his or her family, as no amount of therapy can in any way reverse the condition.

Therefore people should be allowed to decide not to continue suffering excruciating physical and emotional pain. They should be given the right to die, in dignity and in peace, without undue suffering.

The Maltese state has every duty to provide the best medical care for all the people. But it also has the duty to see that their rights and wishes are respected. People who want to die should not be made to travel to a country where euthanasia is legal.

M. Mifsud

Hamrun