INTRODUCTION

This chapter essays a critique of a mixed bag of contributions to the contemporary debate about the legalization of euthanasia. ‘Walton’ in the title designates the Report of the House of Lords Select Committee on Medical Ethics, a Committee chaired by Lord Walton of Detchant; the Committee's Report was published on 17 February 1994 (for convenience I shall refer to the Committee as the Walton Committee and its report as the Walton Report). Davies and Boyd refer to the contributions to the present volume by Jean Davies and Kenneth Boyd.

The Walton Report is a very different document from the writings of Davies and Boyd which are to be considered here. It is the product of a little less than twelve months work by a distinguished Committee whose members heard, pondered and debated evidence from representatives of a fairly wide range of views. The debate within the Committee was clearly at times vigorous and sometimes evidently polarized on fundamental issues. That the Committee produced a unanimous Report is at least in part owing to two facts: the first, that certain issues were either not addressed or left unresolved; the second, that certain recommendations had a significance in the minds of some members which they lacked in the minds of others.

In assessing a report such as that of the Walton Committee, the recommendations of which relate to legislation and public policy, it is not reasonable to expect a developed argument for its recommendations.