Dr Lamorna Osborne has done nothing wrong ("Doctor suspended", Leader, November 6).
One of the arguments against euthanasia is that modern drugs can relieve suffering. Two elderly ladies have reached a very low "quality of life" and are in considerable pain. A doctor prescribes a high dose of morphine hoping it will be sufficient to relieve their pain, but they die.
Should the doctor have played it safe, kept prescriptions very strictly within guidelines and left the old ladies to carry the can by continuing to suffer?
It seems the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal have made a narrow, legalistic judgment here, rather than taking into account the circumstances that influenced the doctor's professional judgment.
If doctors aren't allowed to prescribe high doses of dangerous drugs to relieve the pain of the dying, then a change is needed.
Let's legalise euthanasia, but of course first work out all the precautions needed to prevent abuse.
Bruce Hanna, Heathcote
