Madam, - Dr Patricia Casey, Professor of Psychiatry at the Mater Hospital/UCD, writes of the "contagious" and "copy-cat" nature of many suicides among the young (September 24th). They are often influenced by the suicides of famous people and need to be reminded that the glorified act of defiance of suicide by such people is frequently related to mental illness and depression.
While it is painful to see someone we know take their life when with professional help they might not have done so, I found Professor Casey's article to be an intrusion on the right a person has over their own body. If life is a gift, then we must not take it from another without good cause. Hence most religions have a "thou shalt not kill" clause.
But if it is a gift it is not for one person to tell another what to do with their gift. We may think that if a person had professional help they would not have ended their life.
This might be true, but equally it might not. Their decision to end their life should be respected and accorded dignity.
We have no reason to believe that the giver of life objects to our using that gift as we please, since it was presumably given freely - unlike some of our gifts. All religion or ethics can say is that we must not take that gift from another.
Perhaps its our own fear of death which makes us resent the courage of those who do not fear it? - Yours, etc.,
DECLAN KELLY, Rathfarnham, Dubln 14