This letter and others on these pages give examples of good points to raise in writing to MPs or Peers about the Joffe Bill. Put the ideas in your own words and add a personal angle based on your own experience of the issues.

Dear...

I am writing to express my concern about the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill, which aims to legalise assisted suicide and receives its second reading in the House of Lords on 12 May.

Doctors have historically always been opposed to both euthanasia and assisted suicide for good reasons and still are. The Hippocratic Oath forbids both as do more recent codes of ethics such as the Declaration of Geneva and The International Code of Medical Ethics.

The majority of doctors in the UK remain opposed to assisted dying and medical opposition has actually intensified in recent years. The largest most recent surveys show only 22-38% of doctors in favour of a change in the law. This was made very clear to the recent House of Lords Select Committee examining Lord Joffe's Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill. The opposition to euthanasia is strongest amongst doctors who work most closely with dying patients and are most familiar with treatments available.

The Association for Palliative Medicine of Great Britain & Ireland represents over 800 UK specialists in palliative care. Well over 90% of its members are strongly opposed to euthanasia. The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), the Royal College of Anaesthetists, the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, The Royal College of Nursing and the British Geriatric Society also remain strongly opposed to euthanasia. No Royal College is in favour of a change in the law.

The BMA itself does not favour a change in the law and last summer's much-publicised vote at the BMA annual conference to adopt a position of neutrality towards any future bill was unrepresentative of the Association's 134,000 members. It was carried by a very narrow majority (93 votes to 82) at a barely quorate meeting on the last day of the conference when over half of the delegates had either left or were otherwise engaged.

Please oppose this law

Yours sincerely