SINGAPORE'S Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan suggested last month that the authorities might have to consider legalising active euthanasia - or assisted dying - for presumably the terminally ill who are mentally competent.

A euthanasia debate was triggered by a letter published in Lianhe Zaobao on Sept 20 from a 72-year-old woman, who said she and her husband lived in fear of falling ill and becoming dependent on others. For weeks after that, readers of the Chinese daily wrote in, calling for euthanasia to be legalised in Singapore.

While several MPs and doctors interviewed by The Sunday Times welcomed the discussion, they all said they were personally against euthanasia, calling instead for palliative care, which involves the management of suffering for terminally ill patients.

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