“ What he gets right is to worry about the state codification of euthanasia. It’s the direction being pursued in Scotland: having an ‘Authority to Die’ certificate from some government body before proceeding to assisted suicide. It seems a tidy way of ensuring against malign pressures. But it’s concerning, not just because from there it is only a short step to state sanctioned killers - who are trained, expert, humane - but also an ‘Authority to Live’, a certificate those drawing heavily on state funds for their health care will require, to ensure they stay lying unconscious in a hospital bed.
