Hereford Times opinion:

After many months of heart searching, well-known local businessman John King has decided he no longer wants to carry on living with the motor neurone disease that is killing him.

His mind is as sharp as a pin but his body is ‘broken’.

He is fed through a tube and needs a mask to breath. In short he is on a life support machine and feels the time has come to turn off the switch.

But he does not want a change in the law to allow someone else to do it for him: he believes this could leave vulnerable people subject to pressure.

Mr King wants to be able to end his life by his own actions while still able to do so.

He does not believe he is ‘cheating God’ of the right to decide when he leaves this world because his body has made that decision and, but for medical intervention, he would have been dead a long time ago.

He wants his legacy to be to raise awareness that will hopefully lead to a cure for this terrible disease.

We hope and pray that his legacy is achieved and a cure is discovered.

But Mr King is already assured of another legacy. His brave decision to speak out will help in the debate about the suffering of people with clear minds trapped in broken bodies and their right to put an end to their agonies.

You may or may not agree with suicide and the law surrounding it, but Mr King’s powerful testimony must be heard as part of the public debate.