http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014 ... tients-die

So long as everything's documented, I agree.

If I was a patient who could choose between a long slow painful death or assisted suicide, I'd take assisted suicide every time.

Part of the issue is that there are doctors who, like me, would struggle to "press that button" ie intentionally cause death or allow patients to commit suicide. It just goes against the whole ethos of what I do. Yet at the same time, I'd happily write up meds for a syringe driver knowing that as the morphine pumps through to ease the pain, the side effect is respiratory depression which will lead to death. That's because the main aim is to keep the patient as comfortable as possible.

Maybe the patient could push the button themselves. Or a family member who's been given legal permission from the patient to do so?

It's not just pushing the button but the act of setting it up intentionally.