MARTIN Conroy (Letters, February 13) refers to the Belgian legal euthanasia system which, to me, appears to have gone too far beyond a reasonable system. He glibly glosses over the excellent and successful legal system in the state of Oregon, USA, which, since 1997, has applied only to terminally ill and mentally competent adults. I quote from their published claims that "there have been no cases of abuse and the law has not been extended beyond terminally ill adults. It prevents unnecessary suffering at the end of life and provides dying adults with the choice and control over their death. Assisted dying has been responsibly implemented with none of the predicted dire consequences."

I trust that Mr Conroy will never be in a situation where a beloved family member, even with excellent palliative care, is suffering so horribly as to request assistance, from the medical profession, family, and church representatives, to end it all but has to suffer for a further fortnight – despite all these persons agreeing it would be more merciful to terminate that life.

Gordon Caskie,

Barochan Place, Campbeltown.