''I have been plagued for years about the frustration endured when meeting with the 'desperate dying' for whom I can offer no relief when palliative care has exhausted its resources. I was active in petitioning the Australian Medical Association to change its stance away from opposition; that matured into the formation of the group whose website now is http://drs4assisteddyingchoices.org. Typical of the kind of correspondence we receive is:

I am not sure whether this is an appropriate question, but can you help usfind a doctor who would help us fulfil my mother 's wishes for voluntary euthanasia. She's 95, terminal cancer suffer, had a stoke 5 years ago, has been begging us ever since. Cruel to watch. We love her. Thanks. (sic).

There is very little that I can offer this distressed petitioner that is within the law.'I am also increasingly angry about how it would appear that the Catholic Church seeks to control the lives of those of us of no faith. Let them live their lives according to their own lights say I, and leave the rest of us to choose to live and die as we wish''.