I REFER to the letter, ?Respect patients? wish for euthanasia? (my paper, Nov 11).

As a Catholic, I believe that life is a gift from God and that no one has the right to play God and end a life during a time of hopelessness and misery.

When a doctor takes the Hippocratic Oath he is bound to preserve all life, whatever the cost.

Is it then morally right for a doctor or anyone to determine that a patient should die prematurely just because there is medically no hope for him to live? So long as there is hope, there is life.

In the United States, studies have shown that a good percentage of people who have been determined to be in so-called ?irreversible comas? have recovered.

Doctors were dumbfounded by these cases, and could offer no scientific explanation.

I agree with the writer that as society matures, people should be given a choice.

But do people know enough about euthanasia to make the right choice? Do they really know what a living will is and its implications when they sign it? Are there no better alternatives?

Let us value the sanctity of human life and act responsibly to safeguard it by vehemently saying no to euthanasia.

Mr Nelson Quah

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