Writing in the Daily Mail, Terry Waite, a former hostage in Beirut, says "I longed for death... but I'm proof you should never give up on life".

His dramatic four year ordeal in Lebanon brought him to the brink of death, where he mused ending it all would be a "merciful release", but as a result, Waite discovered you can get relief from any torment, and that "every moment of survival brings new hope".

Waite now believes that this survival instinct is being eroded in our society, and that euthanasia is now being proposed as an everyday option; fearing that euthanasia could undermine the integrity of the medical profession, and that we should recognise the advances in palliative care as the option for the terminally ill and dying.