Assisted dying.

The Royal College of Physicians took a neutral position on the House of Lords Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill. While modern palliative care and the hospice approach have greatly reduced terminal suffering, they do not always achieve total relief of distressing symptoms--he majority of dying patients and their families probably do not receive optimal terminal care. In this article I try to rebut the common arguments against assisted dying and add some arguments in favour.

Brenner, the worm and the prize.

The recent award of a Nobel Prize to Sydney Brenner crowns an astonishingly distinguished scientific career. He must have come very close to winning it several times in the past. A colleague described him as 'a visionary who sees further into the future than anyone'.