- DEAN ASKS DOCTORS 31/12/05 -

Weighing into the euthanasia debate, Dr Shepherd said: "I am not going to sign off on saying that I support euthanasia but I am saying that there may well be circumstances where a person is ill and does not wish to prolong their life.

"If that wish coincides with the wishes of their family, then I think that is .a situation for the medical profession to take very seriously."

His comments came as West Australians threw their overwhelming support behind euthanasia, with 93 per cent of 1135 respondents to a phone poll supporting legislation.

"Life is precious and where there is the chance of quality of life then that must be pursued at all costs," Dr Shepherd said.

"When the point comes when that is not able to be done, if a person has left instructions for a particular action to be taken, then on the one hand you should be faithful to that person's wishes."

Australian Medical Association WA president Paul Skerritt said palliative care had advanced such that it was possible to alleviate a person's suffering without taking the drastic step of ending life.

"We remain strongly of the view that the role of doctors is not only to save lives but also to lessen suffering and the fact is that these days we are capable of lessening suffering to an extent that makes most of the sad stories you see in the paper rather irrelevant," he said. "Doctors are certainly aware of the fallacy of unnecessarily preserving life so it is not as if we are creating this army of vegetables who are occupying large amounts of money and creating a great deal of suffering."

Acting premier Eric Ripper said he was cautious about euthanasia.

"I fear that the detail of any scheme (to legalise euthanasia) might lead to the erosion of individual rights rather than the promotion of those rights," he said.

CAPTION
'There may well be circumstances where a person does not wish to prolong their life.'
John Shepherd