Every year, hundreds of British citizens fall victim to incurable, terminal or completely debilitating illnesses.

Some, such as those suffering from dementia, wish to end their life prematurely, before their illness gets to such a point that their life becomes unlivable.

Others, such as those suffering from motor-neurone disease, have full mental capacity and wish to die to escape from their living hell, but are unable to end their own life and so can only do so with the help of family, friends or medical practitioners.

And yet, the current law in this country, under Section 2 of the Suicide Act 1961, makes it an offence for an individual to assist in the suicide of another, even when the individual fully consents and in fact reqests the assitance.

The law is also discriminatory. As suicide itself is not illegal, the law is discriminating against those who, due to their illness, are simply unable to end their own life without some form of assitance.

The law lacks basic human compassion and forces these victims to suffer needlessly. Tony Nicklinson, who suffered from "locked-in syndrome" (meaning that while he had full mental capacity, he was completely unable to move and could only communicate with his eyes) and wished to end his own life, went to Court to get the law changed to allow his wife to assist in his suicide. When the Court refused to intervene, Tony was forced to end his life in the most painful, drawn out and undignified manner through starvation.

The Supreme Court of England and Wales has recently refused to rule in favour of legalising assisted suicide, stating that this is an issue for parliament to decide upon.

Assisted suicide is legal in a number of countries in Europe, including: The Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg.

Every year the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland, enables suffering individuals to end their lives in a dignified and painfree manner, surrounded by family and friends.

The current law acts as an affront to people's basic human rights. The current law shows that we treat animals with more dignity and respect in this country than our own fellow humans. If a horse seriously injures itself so that its standard of life would be seriously reduced, our vets often take the decision to kill it and put it out of its misery (as it is unable to end its own life). However, the vet does not know whether the horse wants its life to end. Yet, for the human beings in this country who are unable to kill themselves but most certainly wish to, we do not allow them this privilege to be put out of their suffering.

The law in this country should be changed to allow assisted suicide in cases where an individual:

Suffers from a terminal or incurable illness. Has the mental capacity to consent to suicide Fully consents to suicide Is unable to end their own life in a painfree and dignified way without the help of another.

In the words of Ayn Rand:

"Suicide is justified when man's life, owing to circumstances outside of a person's control, is no longer possible; an example might be a person with a painful terminal illness, or a prisoner in a concentration camp who sees no chance of escape. In cases such as these, suicide is not necessarily a philosophic rejection of life or of reality. On the contrary, it may very well be their tragic reaffirmation. Self-destruction in such contexts may amount to the tortured cry: "Man's life means so much to me that I will not settle for anything less. I will not accept a living death as a substitute."