The author is correct in saying that many doctors do already practice a form of euthanasia, usually with palliative patients.

However, I would suggest that asking some doctors to do this when a patient is not in the last stages of a palliative illness is another thing altogether.

If a doctor, the patient and their relatives know that a particular palliative illness will eventually be very hard to manage the symptoms effectively with all the modern resources we have, then they may well choose to have euthanasia earlier on in the illness.

If we had legalized voluntary euthanasia, will most doctors be willing and able to walk in, have a chat with their patient, then pull out the lethal injection and give it calmly?
Some will, but many won't.

It is certainly easier to give the final injection to someone who is unconscious, or in uncontrolled pain or discomfort near the end of their life, than to someone who is terminally ill, but not suffering as such, yet.

I hope voluntary euthanasia does become legal, but it will need to be heavily regulated, and the number of doctors willing to offer the service may well be limited...

Rhosty and Suseonline, have you actually considered what Peter Baume is talking about? You have made ill-considered remarks ignoring the fact that he refers to the Northern Territory Rights of the Terminally Ill Act, voted in by their Legislative Assembly but overriden by the Federal Government, care of Kevin Andrews. That legislation only permitted assisted death under very stringent conditions: e.g., an adult person had to be incurably terminally ill (certified by 2 specialists) who had to be lucid, and aware of the circumstances, not suffering from depression (again with specialist certification) but finding other suffering unbearable. They had to have made the request for assistance to die more than once over a period of time. Anything less than this would be unlawful. Many jurisdictions are satisfied that allowing for physician-assisted suicide does not result in all sorts of murderous acts. So glib talk citing cases that don’t follow such conditions, or of people who did not suffer unbearably, or doctors having a ‘chat’ and then pulling out a needle, are irrelevant and potentially harmful.
Your unthinking and insensitive attitude trivialises a very serious and all too common set of circumstances, and condemns many people, (and not 'just' the elderly - many young people are terminally ill), to unbearable and heartless suffering at the end of their lives.