4 NOVEMBER 1978, Page 17

Szasz and suicide

Sir: Like Auberon Waugh, I am not a disciple of Thomas Szasz. Unlike Mr Waugh, however, I confine my jokes to things I understand, if only because the success of jokes about those things I don't understand would depend on the reader's own incomprehension of them. It is absurd, and marginally revolting, playfully to suggest that Szasz would advise a suicidal patient 'to go ahead and give it a whirl'. As a matter of fact, Szasz is against suicide, but has defined our fundamental human right to disagree with him and act accordingly, our life being our own and nobody else's. In Auberon Waugh's situation vis-a-vis that suicidal elderly lady, Szasz would have reacted without acting, as Auberon Waugh did.

Hans Keller 3 Frognal Gardens, London NW3