Sandra wins assisted-suicide debate (From This is Hampshire)

Sandra wins assisted-suicide debate

3:20pm Friday 12th March 2010 in

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MAKING it legal to help the terminally-sick to take their own lives should be allowed, a packed meeting in Winchester decided.

Around 150 people went to the debate, which was led by a panel of experts and chaired by broadcaster, Debbie Thrower.

Romsey MP, Sandra Gidley, made the case for changing the law and labelled end-of-life care in Britain as “inconsistent” and even “haphazard”. She said: “This is not about euthanasia and somebody else making decisions for me. This is about me being in control.”

Dr Tony Callard, who heads the British Medical Association’s ethics committee, led calls to maintain the law.

He said: “I didn’t go into medicine to kill people. I went into medicine to try to make people better.”

After the debate, the audience voted by 66 per cent to 28 per cent in favour of legalisation, with six per cent abstaining.

Monday night’s event, held at the University of Winchester’s Stripe Theatre was hosted by the Winchester and the Districts Soroptomists.