A CONTROVERSIAL report funded by the author Terry Pratchett, has recommended that assisted suicide be legalised for people over the age of 18 with less than a year to live.

Reporter Dominic Sutton asked the people of Wanstead whether they thought terminally ill people should be given the right to end their lives.

Akbar Nas, 35 of Grove Park, Wanstead, said: “I’m totally against assisted suicide being legalised.

“You should never give up.

“I have a medical background in microbiology and the pace of medical advance means that there is always hope.

“It is simply inhuman to legalise suicide.”

Anthony Evans, 54, of Hermon Hill, Wanstead, said: “When it comes to euthanasia you have to be sure the person is in the right state of mind to make the decision.

“I was very ill in hospital recently. I suffered multiple organ failure and contracted MRSA.

“I didn’t feel like living at times, but I was really out of it on strong painkillers.

“Now I’m out of hospital, my mind is straight and I’m enjoying life again.”

Carol Anderson, 67 of St Gabriels Close, Wanstead, said : “I really do believe very strongly in it.

“I have a friend who has a very bad chest and she’s terrified that she will get to a stage where she won’t be able to breathe properly.

“She has made her family promise to help her die if she gets to that stage.

“I would want to have the option to decide before I got too ill to do so.”

Linda Palmer, 70, of Gardner Close, Wanstead, said: “Provided people are clear and lucid that this is what they want to do, then they should be allowed to die.

“When your condition has deteriorated to the extent that you have no decent quality of life then you should be allowed a choice.

“It’s wrong that people have to go abroad to do this at the moment.”

Lorna Verran, 47, of High Street, Wanstead, said: “Something like this should be the individual’s choice, but I think it is wrong to legislate on suicide.

“People could falsify documents or bully people into taking their own lives and I think there is a risk of state legislated murder.

“If people want to commit suicide, they can do it. It doesn’t have to be legal.”

Peter Brion-Smith, 51, of Nightingale Lane, Wanstead, said: “I agree with the idea of legalising assisted suicide.

“There would have to be an obvious loss of quality of life, whether that be a terminal illness or a serious disability.

“If something like that is causing you to feel like your life is dead, you should have the right to die.

“If it ever got to that stage, I would want the choice.”

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