By Peter Singer, Professor of bioethics at Princeton University and laureate Professor at the University of Melbourne

People often ask me what connects the various issues I have written about over the years – issues like global poverty, the way we treat animals, and the way we die. My answer is simple: I am seeking to reduce pointless suffering…But the easiest suffering of all to end would be the suffering of patients who know they are dying and who do not want to go through the last days, weeks or months of the dying process.

It makes good sense to hold that it is wrong to kill an innocent person who wants to go on living. We might also agree that it is wrong to kill an innocent person who has some prospect of a future life of acceptable quality. Why, though, should we think that it is wrong to help someone to die if they, after careful thought, ask you for that help, and have good reasons for making that request?

Click for article in The Guardian 19 September 2017 ‘We should end the suffering of patients who know they are dying and want to do so peacefully’

Above is the youtube video produced by the Sydney University Catholic Society, who organised a debate about voluntary assisted dying: Peter Singer versus Anthony Fisher on 13 August 2015 before an audience of over 2000 people in the Sydney Town Hall.