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Medicine is firmly rooted in the sciences and derives much of its great power and influence from these roots. In this paper the author, with a career in clinical medicine, argues that there must also be room in medical practice for literature and poetry. He uses examples to build a case for this inclusion helping both patients and doctors in ways which are not in conflict with science but rather allow a much more complete and compassionate picture of the human interactions that are the essence of medicine. The paper argues that a greater understanding of literature and poetry written both by those inside medicine and those observing medicine from the outside can help in crucial ways to guide and sustain doctors, and thus their patients, when wielding the extraordinary power of scientific medicine.

Brewer is wrong to suggest that all those who oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide are religious and motivated by their religion. 1 Like several of my colleagues I am an agnostic yet believe that more harm than good would be done by changing the law as Dignity in Dying suggests. Competing interests: TNH is a member of the ethics committee of the Association of Palliative Medicine. 1 Brewer C. Assisted dying: \"all good doctors do it anyway.\"

[...]did members think that Assisted Suicide should be part of routine medical practice or should it be outside medicine completely, perhaps in the court? [...]there has been little real consideration as to what extent doctors should be involved in PAS; their involvement appears to have largely been implicit or assumed. [...]the survey was not a purely theoretical exercise examining an intellectual idea, it was asking concrete questions about a real proposal.