Allow assisted suicide to end people's suffering

Having watched a parent's slow, desperately unhappy and finally painful decline from Alzheimer's disease over many long years, I have no intention of following her path ("Dementia diagnosis may trigger suicides", June 3). Why shouldn't those of us who wish to be allowed to end our lives at the time of our choosing, with our family or whoever we need by our side? It may be a considerable saving for the health system and family suffering, but I would be thinking of myself and family rather than the good of the country. Your report quotes Britain's Baroness Warnock as saying elderly people with dementia should "consider ending their lives because they are a burden to the National Health Service and their families". Let's not tamper with the intent here. She said she believed that "if pain is insufferable, then someone should be given the help to die [and if] someone absolutely, desperately wants to die because they're a burden to their family, or the state, then they should be allowed to die". Advertisement: Story continues below It is well known that euthanasia is carried out regularly and quietly. However, the night nurse whose conscience does not condone such a practice has the power to prolong a difficult end. In the light of my experience, a dementia diagnosis would definitely trigger suicidal thoughts. It is high time we had the option of legal assisted suicide for those who believe in it to allow some comfort and security, let alone time to think, in an otherwise bleak situation at the end of their lives. Ingrid Haydon Wentworth Falls Chaser should not take the war on everything literally The purpose of satire is to ridicule the follies of individuals and institutions ("Calls for Chaser to be axed over 'callous' skit", smh.au, June 4). It is hoped that laughter will lead to changes in the behaviour and the elimination of those follies. Rosetta Stone Japanese The Chaser's satire chooses targets such as politicians, corporations, churches, unions and now terminally ill children. As parents who sat at the bedside as two of our children died of leukaemia, we would like to know what change in our behaviour The Chaser was trying to bring about. An answer might compensate us for the reopening of old wounds the grief and anger that hasn't gone after 40 years. Pat and Don Brown Narrabeen War on everything? Even on dying kids and their parents? Sure, comedy can push boundaries, but are there no longer any taboos, boundaries or sensitivities that are off limits? Obviously not to these guys. I won't be watching again, not only because of that segment but because, after two episodes, I have concluded the show is not funny. Rod Burke Green Point It is hard to think of a grubbier moment in Australian television. Everyone involved should be deeply ashamed. The person responsible for approving this tasteless garbage going to air has to be sacked. Shaun McCarthy Balmain Are we to get to the stage where we must vote on all Chaser skits before they are aired to ensure the majority agree they are funny and inoffensive? That people are uncomfortable with satire is precisely the point. What puzzles me is the criticism from socalled Chaser fans who say the most recent controversy crossed the line. Can I take the fact they are still watching as a sign that The Chaser has never crossed the line before? Presumably they have suffered no offence from all the other outrageous things The Chaser has satirised. The show works because everyone is fair game. The Chaser team is now in the difficult position of choosing between two ways to lose its audience: by offending them too much or by toning down the show so much that it is no longer cuttingedge.

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