Dr. Kevin Yuill:

I will make a couple of points. Unfortunately, once you have any kind of safeguard, you are patronising because you are saying that someone has suffered adequately for your purposes and, therefore, he or she will be able to avail of an assisted death while telling an entire category of other people that you have decided they are not suffering enough to avail themselves of an assisted death. This discrimination cannot be got rid of through any sort of legislation.

It is worth reminding ourselves that, in Oregon polls of those who avail themselves of assisted deaths, being a burden has always been a more important reason than physical pain in why people make that choice.

I will make a further observation. Anyone can bring himself or herself to become terminally ill by, for instance, refusing food and water. This means that safeguards cannot really prevent someone who is determined to get an assisted death from getting one.