Every case is individual – that is why doctors nurses and relatives need to talk to

Every case is individual – that is why doctors, nurses and relatives need to talk to each other.But if this busybody, catch-all Bill becomes law, neither doctors, patients nor relatives will have any choice. Ann Winterton will have condemned some terminally ill patients to a further period of pitiful suffering and intensified the huge burden of helplessness and anguish carried by those who love them.BARBARA POINTONThriplow, Cambridgeshire. Sir, The Novosti Agency’s claim (letter, 10 December) that “bandits”, not civilians, are targeted by the Russian security forces in Chechnya is not confirmed by reports in The Independent, eyewitness accounts and testimony collected by international organisations such as the OSCE, Council of Europe and Helsinki Watch. Bombing by air, artillery and tanks of villages and towns throughout the last three months has been indiscriminate and has caused far greater casualties among Chechen civilians than among combatants.

Instead he should be given tender palliative care to allow nature to take its course Others are entitled to take an opposite view. All I can say is that it comes quickly to avoid any mess.” So guided by that diary entry, I have recently signed a statement that in the case of a life-threatening situation, I do not want any intervention (which would include artificial feeding). The patient is likely to have no coherent speech and be unable to understand explanations of clinical procedures, so the chances are that the insertion of a tube will be interpreted as an assault on the person and torn out as often as it’s put in.
I may soon be in this dilemma concerning my husband’s care: “To feed or not to feed? What would he want?”Eight years ago, when he was first given his diagnosis, he wrote in his diary, “The day of the beginning of my end No hope, it seems. But things are never as black and white as pro-life campaigners would like. Some patients in the last stages of Alzheimer’s choke on solid food, then on pureed, then cannot even swallow liquids. At this point a decision has to be made between allowing the patient to “starve” or introducing artificial feeding by tube. Sir: Ann Winterton MP seeks to introduce a private member’s Bill to “outlaw the removal of food and drink from patients” (MP plans Bill to ban starving of patients”, 10 December) Many people might be shocked into initial agreement.

The match will be held on February 6 after the singles and doubles finals. Graf chose to play Date, who became the only Japanese player to win against a world No 1 player by beating Graf at the Fed Cup in April 1996 before retiring at the end of the same season.
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SITES TO SURF
www.itatennis
www.tennisnews
www.tennisfame . The 26-year-old Rafter has not played since injuring his shoulder and pulling out of his first-round match against Cedric Pioline at the US Open in September.
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STEFFI TO JAPAN
Steffi Graf’s farewell tour travels to Tokyo where she will play an exhibition match against Japan’s Kimiko Date during the Toray Pan Pacific Open tournament in February. Connors lost to McEnroe in last year’s final, 6-2, 6-1.
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SIDELINED
Pat Rafter is expected to skip next month’s Australian Open because of his injured shoulder.

The two-time US Open champion from Australia was a notable absentee from the official entry list when nominations closed last week, although he has said he may apply for a wild card so that he can defend his doubles crown with Swede Jonas Bjorkman. With dlrs 370,000 in prize money, the Quality Challenge has the highest profile of the senior circuit’s 22 events. 10 between Evonne Goolagong of Australia and Martina Hingis of Switzerland.
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SAN DIEGO-BOUND
Defending champion John McEnroe and three-time winner Jimmy Connors will return to San Diego July 13-16 for the 2000 Quality Challenge, the showcase event of the Worldwide Senior Tennis Circuit. In the women’s poll, Graf and Navratilova were separated by a single point, 52-51, and were followed by Australian Margaret Smith Court, American’s Billie Jean King and Chris Evert, Suzanne Lenglen of France, Americans Helen Wills Moody and Maureen Connolly, Yugoslavian-born Monica Seles, and a tie for No. As before, there will be four tournaments in North America and five in Europe, while the season-ending Tennis Masters Cup will rotate through major world capitals, beginning with Lisbon, Portugal, in 2000. The 60 tournaments outside the Tennis Masters Series, which had been comprised of Championship and World Series events, will be combined as part of the new International Series.
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STARS OF THE CENTURY
Australian Rod Laver beat out American Pete Sampras as The Associated Press men’s tennis player of the century, and Germany’s Steffi Graf edged Czechoslovakian-born Martina Navratilova as the top women’s player in a vote by a panel of experts. American Bill Tilden, who dominated men’s play in the 1920s, finished third in the men’s race, followed by Sweden’s Bjorn Borg, American Don Budge, a tie between John McEnroe of the United States and Australia’s Lew Hoad, a tie between Australians Roy Emerson and Ken Rosewall, and American Jack Kramer.